


File Not Found

by CaptainPiika



Series: File Not Found [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Except the Pokémon are the main characters!, F/M, OT fic, Very OC heavy, also old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 14:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 103,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13743243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainPiika/pseuds/CaptainPiika
Summary: A young Chimchar named Kevin is caught and shipped off to a trainer in some place called Sinnoh - Crazyland, more like. As he travels the region and collects badges with his new trainer and the rest of the team, he notices things are... off. Just why are all the other Pokémon speaking human? He thought he was the only one...Originally posted on FFN from April 2010 - January 2012.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this old fic here because I want to post its sequel here, and the sequel makes no sense without reading this. This story is definitely rough around the edges, and there are plenty of flaws I'm already aware of, but I still like it. :P If it interests you, great! If not, that's fine too.

“You stupid Pokémon! Why won’t you listen to me?!”

Why did the kid expect him to? These ten year olds could be so ignorant, and this one had a temper to boot. But why on earth would you ever order a fire type to use Ember on a water Pokémon, even if it was a Magikarp?

“Come _on_ , Chimchar, just beat it for me, won’t you?” Why should he? He would just be insulted again…

The Magikarp blinked its vacant eyes and swam away. The boy pouted, and Kevin sighed. Another lecture in three, two, one…

“You know Chimchar, you’re being really stupid. You’re a Pokémon, and they battle for trainers. That’s the rule. You do what the trainer tells you, and in return we give you food and water and a Pokéball to sleep in, so why don’t you just battle? If that had been a Bidoof, it would have finished you.” The boy, whose name was Simon, crossed his arms and threw the Pokéball at Kevin to return him.

Kevin dodged it in a heartbeat. All right, this kid needed to be taught a lesson. Walking right up to the kid and staring him in the face, he glared with as much intensity as he could manage and then began to speak.

“You know what kid? I had food and water and shelter before you got a hold of me, so don’t think I can’t live my life by myself. And F.Y.I., you generally don’t attack water Pokémon with fire attacks, or use potions when we’re not exhausted, or do anything else as dumb as that. Frankly, I think that _you’re_ the stupid one and that _I_ should be teaching you a thing or two about battling. Got that?”

If he were back home, Kevin would have expected the kid to scream or be scared or something, but Simon just sassed him back. “Last time I checked, Chimchar, I was the trainer, got that?”

Kevin stepped back, still glaring. Where the hell was he, anyway? It was cold and snowy and all the Pokémon could talk… But, he was the only one who knew how. He was special… right?

Cutting his thoughts short, he retorted back. “Well, if you’re the trainer, and you think that a Bidoof’s stronger than me, then why don’t you just catch one of them instead?” Please let him go…

“Maybe I will,” sneered Simon, and he started glancing around. Route 219 didn’t usually have any Bidoof, from what Kevin could tell, but there was a girl with one on some sort of a picnic. Rushing up to her and dragging Kevin along behind him, he tapped her shoulder. “Hey, wanna trade?”

The girl eyed him carefully, then clutched her Pokéballs protectively. “Not my Turtwig.”

Simon smiled, and then pointed to her Bidoof. “No, I wanted that one. He looks tough.”

The Bidoof rolled his eyes. Kevin silently agreed with him, also being tired of being addressed as an object. Humans were… Well, humans. Pokémon were slightly more valuable than a pair of nice shoes.

“For what?” asked the girl, staring at him weirdly. She didn’t get what was so special about her Bidoof, and neither did he, but Kevin guessed Simon just wanted to get rid of his problem.

“For my Chimchar here, please?” That interested her. Now looking at Kevin, she smiled, her eyes lighting up with what Kevin could only pin down as greed. Yeah, yeah, Chimchar were rare, Kevin knew that, but she didn’t have to be so transparent about it. She grinned, nodding.

“Okay, sure. We don’t have to go use a machine, do we? I mean, it’d be easier to just trade here,” Trainers could be damn lazy, too. Then again, those machines _were_ rather pointless.

Simon grinned and handed her Kevin’s Pokéball as he took the Bidoof’s. “He’s all yours,” he said, and he quickly ran off with the Bidoof in tow.

Smiling, the girl turned to Kevin. “Hi there, I’m Lana. I guess I’m your trainer now,” she said, tilting her head sheepishly. She took out two Pokéballs. “I’m just starting out, so I only have two others with me, but here they are.”

The Pokéballs dropped and revealed a Starly and Turtwig. The Starly was younger than he was and looked quite pleased with himself, but the Turtwig was at least in her twenties and looked morbidly discontent with everything ever. Kevin stared at her left eye, which was adorned with a scar, and she snapped at him.

“Hey, you. Yes, I have a scar. I don’t like to talk about it. I’m Kari, the kid is Styler, now who are you?” She spoke rough English, or so Kevin thought, until she added, “And yeah, I don’t speak that well. So what?”

Kevin, still staring, muttered, “And I thought that kid was unfriendly. Is everyone in this place like this?”

She frowned, narrowing her eyes. “No, Sinnoh’s not that bad. But if you tick me off, kid, you’re going to regret it.” In what was supposed to be an intimidating glare, she attempted to tower over him with her eyes. It sort of worked, but not for the intended target.

“Um… so who are you?” asked Styler, trying not to show his discomfort around Kari. Kevin felt a little sorry for the kid.

“My name…” Kevin started, then stopped himself. Crazy people in a crazy place should not know who you are. Stranger danger and all that.  So, nicknames. Well, he hadn’t exactly used it in a while, but… “It’s Chump.”

Kari’s eyes opened wide. “Are you serious? You call yourself a word synonymous with loser? Geez, kid, have you no self respect at all?” Stomping the ground and looking upwards to nothing in particular, she opened her mouth. “Chump... really?”

Kevin grimaced. It had been an event the day he’d learned that “chump” and “champ” were not the same thing. What a crushing blow to his six year old self. “Well... it’s just a... temporary nickname. I’ll think of something better soon.” It felt awkward to speak in plain human without feeling awkward. As Kevin tried to wrap his head around exactly what that meant, Styler chirruped.

“You named yourself? Cool! How old are you, Chump?” he asked brightly. Kevin managed to smile a little.

“Fourteen,” he replied shortly. Kari eyed him peculiarly, squinting as she did so. Kevin caught a flash of milky white before it quickly disappeared.

Lana smiled at all of them. “Well, it’s nice to see that you seem to get along,” she said. Kari resumed glaring at him. “Um, Chump, we’ve already gotten our first badge in Oreburgh, so we’re heading to Eterna City next. That’s a Grass type gym, so, um, would you participate in the battle?”

Kevin shrugged. “Depends on how good you are. And actually, could you _not_ say we seem to get along and things like that? Because I think it’s pretty obvious that not all of us do,” He glared back. Styler smiled nervously.

Lana blinked. “Oh... okay. Sorry. I’m still not used to you speaking and stuff, and I was kinda taught what it was like before...”

Before. How long ago was before? But before Kevin could ask, they were all in their Pokéballs once again. Yeesh, this girl would have to be taught some lessons too.

*

They were released later that evening, the November sky dyed red with the sunset. Apparently it was time for dinner. Even though they’d just had a picnic. Dumb Pokéballs…

Kevin studied his new trainer. She looked to be about ten, if not slightly older, with straight black hair and a pink shirt with some sort of happy, smiling heart on it. There wasn’t much else to her, really. He wouldn’t have been able to pick her out of a crowd. She was currently rummaging through her bag, pulling out muffins, fruit, and lemonade meant for their meal. No kibble in sight, unlike what the brat had tried to feed him. That was a good sign.

He yawned, and then glanced over at Styler. The young bird was fluttering around, but he wasn’t exactly doing anything else interesting. A quick glance at Kari revealed that she was eyeing him again, making Kevin turn away. She actually was kind of creepy with her death glares and all.

“All right!” said Lana with an exasperated sigh. “Um… I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’ve decided on our future team members. Would you like to know what they’ll be?”

Styler nodded happily while Kevin and Kari stayed silent. He shrugged, putting his hands behind his head. At least this would be interesting. If she was really all for battling competitively and planning things out, then she’d be the best trainer he could ask for.

Lana nodded redundantly, launching into an explanation. “Okay. Obviously, we need a water type, since they’re really useful in a lot of situations, so I think I’ll try to catch a Buizel.” Pausing, she grinned. “I mean, they’re cute _and_ strong, and they’re my favourite Pokémon, so… um… right.”

Kari had taken on a bitter expression as soon as she mentioned favouritism. Kevin raised an eyebrow. She could sure be uptight. There was nothing wrong with having a favourite Pokémon. Everyone battled differently, after all, and if Lana liked playing a certain way, she was definitely allowed to.

“Moving on… I think having an electric type is important too, but everybody has a Shinx. I think I’m going to get either Pikachu or Pachirisu— What?”

Kevin was snickering. “Well, they aren’t exactly that good.”

Glaring, Kari turned her head towards him. “You kids. Power is all that matters, is it? And yet you call yourself Chump…” Looking disgusted, she laid her head back down, grumbling.

He frowned, but said nothing more. Was it really worth the effort to mouth off some angsty old crab who hated your guts for no reason? Kevin was about to reconsider when Styler interrupted his thoughts.

“Well, I agree. The Shinx hate us, so…” He trailed off, hoping that they’d catch his drift.

“Okay. Whichever we see first, we catch. Now then… I was kind of expecting to have to get a fire type the hard way, but… well, I think I want another normal type. Any ideas?” Lana asked, still looking kind of awkward. Kevin really didn’t blame her.

“Eevee,” he said. Kari snorted.

“Moron, Eevee doesn’t stay normal type,” she said.

Kevin nodded. “Exactly. Normal isn’t good against anything. They’re pretty well rounded, I’ll give you that, but you’ve already got a bird. If you get one and train it while rounding out the rest of your team, you’ll figure out where your weaknesses are and with seven types to choose from—”

“Eight,” Lana said. “Aren’t there?”

“What? Fire, electric, water, psychic, dark… Uh, grass and ice, and… What am I missing?” Kevin asked.

Styler replied. “Oh, there’s the really rare and pretty pink one, right? I forgot its name…”

Lana nodded. “Yeah, Sylveon. It’s really hard to evolve Eevee into that, though, so they’re not that well known. I think they only discovered it, like, five years ago. But anyway, I kind of like normal types. It’s not like they’re that bad, either.” She smiled. “I was kind of thinking that a Glameow would be cool.”

Kari sighed. “There’s no rush, you know. The League isn’t until the end of the year.”

Styler hopped over to Kari. “That’s only two months, though! That’s not much time at all for training, let alone getting all the badges. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait until June.”

“Which is probably the smarter thing to do, seeing as it took us a week to train for the first badge,” Kari said matter-of-factly. “And that was with Bips.”

“Um…” Kevin started. “Wait a minute. What’s the date?”

“Hm? October twenty-second,” said Lana with a mouthful of muffin.

Kevin blinked. “But that’s not right.”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s not right’?” asked Kari, raising an eyebrow.

“I mean, that means my birthday’s tomorrow, but…” Trailing off, he stopped himself. Wherever this place was, things were not right. Which, logically, would mean that the people weren’t right either. Well, maybe not, but it was probably better if he trusted someone before revealing any personal information. Sighing, he shook his head. “Never mind. I guess I forgot.”

Kari smirked. “Forgot your own birthday? Yeesh, kid.”

Styler perked up. “Oh! So that means that you’re turning fifteen tomorrow! Cool!”

“Um, no.”

“What?” Styler asked, hopping a few paces over to Kevin.

“Um, well, I thought I’d say I was fourteen because I was so close to being fourteen, you know?” He laughed.

Kari narrowed her eyes, tilting her head at the same time. “But just now you didn’t remember the date, Chump.”

Kevin grinned nervously. “Yeah, whatever. That’s not important. Anyway… Let’s eat, I’m starved.”

*

Inside his Pokéball, Kevin frowned. It could be another time zone. He was definitely far away enough, climate-wise, for that to be a possibility. But he didn’t think that time zones were an entire week behind others. It had already been his birthday… hadn’t it?

He had celebrated it. Living in the wild though, his family could have messed up the dates enough to be a week behind. Yeah, that was probably it. If that was the case, then he should probably call his mom and correct her.

They had phones in this place, right? He thought he remembered seeing one in the Pokémon Center, but it wasn’t like the ones they had at home. Actually, none of the things he’d seen looked like the things at home. What did Kari call it again? Sinnoh? He’d heard of it, he was sure, but he had no idea where that was in relation to Hoenn. hopefully, the Pokémon Centers here had maps, too. He’d just have to wait and see.


	2. Chapter 2

The next time they were let out, it was daytime again. There was also an enormous amount of flowers surrounding them, covering every square inch of land (and even some buildings) for at least a mile. Apparently, according to Lana, they were in Floaroma Town, wherever that was. Kevin’s first impression was that it was actually pretty nice, but he had no idea how the flowers grew in the cold. As the group began walking out of town, the Turtwig a few feet in front of him slowed to meet his pace.

“What’s up with you, Chump?” Kari said, smiling a little. He had no idea what was amusing her.

“It’s just… how _do_ all these plants grow when it’s so cold?” It would be at this point that his little brother would sigh and say that he got hung up on the smallest of things, but he wasn’t around… Which was probably a good thing, because he wasn’t sure if he could handle his brother and Kari at the same time.

Kari did some sort of reptilian form of shrugging. “I don’t know. It’s not that cold.”

Lana heard them and turned around, smiling. “They say it’s because of some legend about a special Pokémon with a magical power to make everything grow if you gave it a blessing. I’m sure there’s more to it, but that’s all I know.”

Styler, who was perched on her shoulder, tweeted cheerfully. “Oh, you mean Shaymin? I heard about her. Or him, sometimes. Different people tell the story differently. Shaymin’s like the special legendary of nature, I think. If you meet them, you’re supposed to be really lucky.”

“Really?” Lana asked. “I’d love to meet a legendary!”

Kevin stared at them, following from a foot or so away. Legendaries? Please, like those existed. The way they talked was so childish, they probably both needed a wake up call from the real world. On the other hand, there was Kari, who on the other end of the spectrum had the most cynical view on life Kevin had ever seen.

…After a moment’s thought, he realized that he didn’t exactly have an idealist’s view either, but he shrugged it off. What mattered right now was figuring out how he was going to get back home. That is, if he could. He was pretty sure that there was at least an ocean between him and his home continent. Maybe he should ask about that.

Suddenly remembering what he’d been thinking about while in his Pokéball, he bit his lip. Thinking before saying things would probably be his best bet here, and letting something slip might jeopardize… something. All right, then. The indirect route.

“Hey,” he said. “Shouldn’t we go to the Pokémon Center?”

Lana waved her hand lazily. “Already did. None of you were hurt, so I just rented a room. Um… you don’t mind, do you?”

His expression faltering, Kevin shook his head. “Oh, no, that’s fine.”

Great. Telephones were out, for now, anyway. Unless he got himself seriously injured. Wait, could he do that? Kevin had so much battling experience that his brother rarely did much damage to him, but if he faced a water type and let it get a shot in…

He cringed. Being in pain never exactly sounded appealing, even at the best of times. But what else was he supposed to do, ask his “owner” if it was okay to go back? Well, gee, it wasn’t like she’d asked him or anything.

He grumbled. Missed opportunity, right there. But whatever. He supposed he could play the waiting game. If patience meant that he could go without suspicion, then patience it was, no matter how agitating! The extra time might actually give him a clue as to where he was as a bonus. Grinning, Kevin cracked his knuckles. Things wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Oblivious to his internal morale boosting, Kari stepped on his foot. He growled.

“Wake up, Chump. We’re here.” She gestured towards Lana.

“Where?” he questioned, observing the windmills that lined the shore of the river. From what he could tell, he was in a valley, and there was a power plant that was running off the wind.

“The Valley Windworks,” said Lana. “There’s supposed to be Buizel around here, so let’s try to find one quickly.”

Kevin crossed his arms. Didn’t industrialization drive Pokémon _away_ from their habitats? He sure as hell wouldn’t want to live out in the open, with the constant creaking of the turbines intruding the peaceful sound of rushing water. It was bad enough with all the bug catchers setting up camp back home. Why anyone would bother living here was beyond him. He casually glanced around.

Lana and Styler were peering into the river behind the power plant. Right. Whatever a Buizel was, it was water type. Okay, that made a little more sense – living underwater would drown out the noise. Meanwhile, Kari was nowhere to be seen. Kevin briefly wondered if she’d run off before she stomped out of the bushes in front of him.

“Hey, hotshot. I need to ask you something,” she said bluntly. He glared at her.

“What?”          

“Your real name. What is it?” she said, squinting at him.

He turned his head. “Not a chance. Now kindly screw off.”

“Well excuse me for trying to figure out why ‘Chump’ rings a bell,” Kari scoffed. Then she huffed off back into the bushes.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. He’d never met a Turtwig before in his life, and it wasn’t like he was famous or anything. Chump wasn’t exactly your common John Smith, either. He shrugged, blamed it on whatever psychological obsession Kari apparently had on him, and went back to work.

*

“Hey! Guys! We found one!” screeched Styler, fluttering a few feet into the air. Yawning, Kevin leisurely strolled over to the battle scene, where the bird was fighting an orange otter-like creature. Kevin tilted his head.

“That’s a Buizel?” he asked, smirking. “Heh, I was looking for something blue.”

Lana, who was scrambling for a Pokéball, looked at him anxiously. “Just make sure it doesn’t get away!”

Kari waddled over, eyeing their current foe. “Another young one? You have a knack for catching kids.”

“Please get ready! Styler’s about to faint!” pleaded Lana. Kari nodded, taking on an amateurish stance. Kevin stared up at the darkening sky and sighed.

He heard a small sound. Some sort of pink, sluggish thing was staring at him from behind a windmill. It yelled again. A battle challenge.

…Hell yes.

It had been a long time since any wild Pokémon had seriously wanted to battle him. The Magikarp he’d beaten the other day didn’t count. No, he hadn’t had a proper fight since his time in Hoenn, which mostly consisted of battles with grass and bug Pokémon who always lost to him. He had no real measure of what his current skill level was (although he was pretty confident), so why not test it out now? It might even be fun.

He dashed into a Flame Wheel, slightly singing the grass as he went. Oh yeah, baby. Time to rock and roll.

The pink thing countered the head on collision with a water type move, greatly reducing the damage. Tch. He’d gotten his wish after all. Turning on the spot as quickly as he could manage, Kevin sliced the slug’s back with a Scratch. He wailed for a moment and then swung his neck around for a Mud Bomb, which exploded on impact with Kevin’s arm before he could dodge. Wincing, he glared. The thing was practically a baby, and his type advantage was doing that much?

Apparently Lana noticed that he was missing, since she stormed over to yell at him. He didn’t pay attention to what she said, instead concentrating on the monster slug that was launching a continued assault of Mud Bombs. Annoyed, Kevin punched it.

…And it worked. The baby slug fell over, defeated. Kevin chuckled.

“Chump! You can’t just go off and pick fights like that! That Shellos is only a little baby,” Lana scolded, crouching down to the slug and examining it. “Poor thing.”

He laughed. “He was the one who wanted a fight, not me.”

She huffed. “Well anyway, while you were beating up innocent babies, I caught the Buizel. Her name’s Mist.”

Lana threw up the Pokéball and the Buizel appeared, gingerly licking a cut on her paw. She smiled shyly. “Hello.”

“Yo. I’m Ch—” Kevin was cut off by a glow emitting from his own body. “Whoa, wait a second. It’s about time.”

The first thing he noticed was the tail. _Hoo boy_ , that was a weird feeling. But it happened so quickly, and the rest of him was squishing and stretching like malleable clay so much that soon enough his senses became overwhelmed. It was like being in a Pokéball in a way – for a few seconds, it was as if his body wasn’t there, and he was floating around in space. Only this was bright white instead of pitch black.

The glow stayed for a few more seconds before fading, and in found himself about two feet taller with some actual muscle to him. He grinned, looking over his own body.

“Niiice. I look… Uh, there’s a word for it, I’m sure.”

Mist the Buizel blinked. “Slick?”

Kevin pondered the thought for a moment. “Slick? Not the direction I was going, but yeah, slick fits. Slick…”

Furrowing his brow, he went over it in his head. Slick was a pretty nice word. Better than “chump”, anyway. As far as replacement nicknames went, it wasn’t bad.

“Right then. I’m Slick. Thanks for the idea, Mist.”

Lana just stared.


	3. Chapter 3

Kevin really didn’t blame everyone for being a bit off. Things _had_ happened a little fast.

But really, it wasn’t that incidental, not to him. He’d been holding off on evolving for a while now, finding it more convenient to master (and learn) some of his moves beforehand. That way, he’d be stronger later, right? That’s what experts tended to say. He thought it made sense, even if nobody else did.

Although everyone else congratulated him on evolving, Kari was less than impressed. Sure, she’d sized him up and remarked that he looked “a bit more balanced, at any rate” in her raspy reptilian voice, but Kevin couldn’t help but get the vibe that something was going on.

But what did he care? Kari wasn’t his problem, even if she’d begun to laugh hysterically at his new nickname. (Was Slick really that bad…?)

It was a while before he’d remembered it was supposed to be his birthday, a fact which still creeped him out. As he swallowed his muffin, he cleared his throat, preparing for… the worst?

“So… Apparently it’s my birthday,” he said to nobody in particular. Just what was he expecting?

“As you said the other night, Chump,” Kari drawled. “What do you want, a cake?”

He blinked. “Um…”

Mist the new team member looked up. “Does your species celebrate those?” she asked without faltering. Kevin stared.

“…Doesn’t everyone?” he replied, looking at the sky. “Well, either way, I just… Could I maybe… Can I call my mom?”

Nobody said a thing, instead opting to stare at him. Kevin began to sweat. Great, just great. Oh yeah, talking Pokémon were normal here, but it’s crazy if you feel like calling your mom and telling her that you’re in an insane asylum and need help getting out. Oy vey. Then again, not that many wild Pokémon had telephone access. He tended to forget that.

Lana dug around in her pocket before pulling out something metallic pink. “Um, here.”

Kevin took it. “You have a cell phone?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. At least, he was pretty sure it was a cell phone. Lana must have been super rich or something, because it looked totally futuristic, touch screen and everything.

“Doesn’t everyone?” she mocked, grabbing another muffin. “Just don’t take too long, okay? I’m on a texting plan and I don’t have a lot of minutes.”

He nodded, getting up and stepping a few feet away from the rest of the group. He could feel Kari’s eyes follow him, and he shuddered. She had to be the one running the whole thing, he thought, but he quickly dismissed it. He had to keep his head, here.

Due to his fingers being a bit bigger than they were the day before, he had a bit of difficulty dialling the number he’d dialled plenty of times before. The phone on the other end barely rang once before it was picked up.

“Hello?” asked a voice without turning on the video function. Kevin fumbled around for the video on his end before answering.

“Uh, hey,” he said once he pressed what he hoped to be the correct button. “Mom?”

“Kevin? Wha— KEVIN?! Life of the sun,” breathed his mother. He blinked. That didn’t sound good. “Life of the sun” _never_ sounded good.

She took deep breaths. Kevin could tell that she was trying not to overwhelm herself. Then, carefully, she said, “Sweetheart, start from the beginning.”

Uh, what? Kevin blinked a few more times, and then answered, equally careful. “Well, I was captured back in Lilycove, then brought by some bratty moron to the middle of Crazyland McColdsville, then I was traded to someone marginally better, and then I evolved earlier today. And apparently we’re a week ahead or something with the date, because everyone says that it’s October twenty-third. Um… Mom?”

His mother’s lip was quivering.

“Kevin, it _is_ October twenty-third, darling.”

“Well yeah, I know that now, but I thought you’d— Wait, then— Mom, are you okay?” His mother’s brown eyes started watering, and Kevin couldn’t help but notice how tired she looked.

“Sweetheart… oh no, Cory…”

“Cory?” said Kevin, but the Monferno on the other end shook her head.

“Honey, I’m going to call you back, all right? Just please, please stay out of trouble!” Click.

She hung up. His own mother hung up on him.

She hung up so that she could go and call Cory, somebody who hadn’t been around for years. Somebody that just up and left his family one day because he was apparently sick of having fire constantly burning on his head mere days after evolving into an Infernape. Somebody who’d decided that being a dad was something that you could take time off from.

He kicked a pebble on the ground. Fantastic. He was in an alternate dimension where everything had gone completely out of whack. And the only person who could have helped him in any way had hung up her phone.

Kevin trudged back over sourly to the group still eating dinner. Fine. If he had to do this himself, he had to do this himself. No problem. None at all!

Kari stopped him before he got there. Frowning at her, he towered over the turtle and, rather rudely, said, “What?”

“You don’t have to bite my head off!” she exclaimed indignantly. Okay, maybe he was overreacting, but he tended to do that whenever he thought about what a wonderful father he had. He grunted and muttered an apology, still eyeing her as if she was the reason there was a sour taste in his mouth. (Had she poisoned his muffin…?)

“Look, Chump, I know there’s something… _different_ about you, and I just want to make sure I know exactly what it is.” He scoffed.

“Really? Just like how you thought that ‘Chump’ sounded familiar? I go by Slick now, by the way. And I’d never met a Turtwig before I met you, all right? You’ve got the wrong guy, whatever it is he’s important for,” He eyed over her to the rest of the group, but they were either letting them talk in private or putting on a good show of pretending to.

“Wrong guy, hm? Well, I guess that my sources could have been a little _shady_ ,” she smiled, apparently thinking that she’d gotten him.

The thing was… she hadn’t. “What are you talking about?” he asked, giving up on trying to get a clue out of the emphasis.

She narrowed her eyes. “You do realize that he’s been looking for you for around a decade now, right? Everything he’s done, he’s done to find _you_ ,” Once again, Kevin was lost.

“Somebody’s been stalking me since I was a toddler? Really? Golly, I’d better watch my back,” he smirked at Kari’s fury. “Seriously? You’ve got a screw loose. There’s nothing shady about _that_.”

He strode over to the others with a bitter smile. He knew he was mean, yeah, but she wasn’t exactly as sweet as sugar either. She’d caught him at a bad time. His comebacks weren’t even that witty. And she totally deserved it, too.

…Okay, maybe not, but whatever. That was the way he was. Years of defending himself from the snide remarks of various woodland creatures were to blame. To be honest, he kind of missed it. Despite the ridicule, everyone knew that he was good with fire and messing with him was the last thing they’d ever do.

In fact, the last time he was messed with was when some Taillow’s mom got really pissed at him. He smiled, remembering how he’d been precisely eight feet away from the tree they were nesting in and how a freak of nature like himself couldn’t ever be near her children, ever. His dad had gone berserk and beaten the Swellow to a pulp… and evolved…

Crap. The sour taste came back. And sour was the one taste he hated.

“Slick?” asked Mist tentatively. Kevin realized that he must have made a face and smiled.

“Yeah, what?”

“Oh… I’m sorry. It just looked like you were angry about something.” He stared at her. She was being excessively formal for one reason or another, and was eating very slowly and neatly as to not get a single crumb on the ground. If he had to use one word to describe her, it’d be “odd”, but then again a lot of things were odd in Crazyland.

He looked round at the others. Lana and Styler were at least a little sloppier with their food, so it must have been a personal thing. Kari wasn’t eating anything.

He sighed. How could things be so weird and so normal at the same time? After they’d eaten, Lana had returned them all into their Pokéballs, announcing that she’d get a head start on traveling before she would tuck in. And with that… Well, he was in the Pokéball again, left to wonder.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day was pretty uneventful for the majority of the morning, for Kevin, at least. It helped that Lana preferred to keep everyone but Mist in their Pokéballs. Maybe he would have to retract his thoughts on favouritism. Even if it meant agreeing with Kari, he had to admit that being stuck in the dark all the time sucked.

When Lana finally let them out, it was almost noon. Looming in front of them was, from the looks of it, a forest. A forest by the water. And though it was exponentially colder than he’d have liked, it really reminded Kevin of home.

His home wasn’t exactly the typical kind you’d find a fire type in. He knew that it wasn’t exactly the kind of place that normal wild Pokémon of his kind would even consider. But he grew up in Petalburg Woods, and that made it the best place on Earth, whether it deserved that title or not.

He sighed inwardly. He’d get home; he had to. Eventually. Somehow. As soon as he found out where he was.

He noticed Kari staring at him from behind and decided to actually try and figure something out. “So, where’s this?” he asked casually.

“Read the sign, dumbass,” snorted Kari. He glared at her.

“For your information, I would if I could,” he retorted without realizing. He grimaced. Damn it.

She blinked, slowly walking in front of him. “Interesting. You’re illiterate?” She was staring at him again, as if she was trying to examine him. Seriously creepy, really. Borderline diabolical, in his opinion, given the fact that even her scarred eye was also staring at him like it could still see. For a split second he wondered what happened to her, and then his thoughts happened to speak for themselves.

“If you’re wondering why I look the way I do, I told you already, I don’t want to talk about it. What I _would_ like to talk about is why you never learned how to read,” Double damn it. What was with him and reacting before he had a chance to think? Even when he didn’t say anything…

Styler chirruped and hopped over to Kevin’s side. “Oh, I get it! You’re a Naturalist, right? I’ve heard about those!”

“I— What? The heck’s a Naturalist?” Kevin questioned, turning to the tiny bird.

“It figures you wouldn’t know, seeing as you don’t read,” mused Kari.

“Um, Kari, please stop that,” said Lana in a weak gesture of mediation. She looked over to Kevin, looking a tad uncomfortable. “A Naturalist is a Pokémon who prefers the way it was before… Um, before the rights thing and everything, you know? They’re the ones who didn’t like other Pokémon learning how to talk and stuff. Some actively protest anything to do with humans.”

Whoa. Jackpot. It wasn’t necessarily what he was looking for, but damn, that was helpful. He had some things figured out for certain: The place was called Sinnoh, things were normal for an indefinite time before the “rights thing” happened, and Kari knew something about it. Well, that wasn’t certain, but he had a hunch.

He smiled. All right, he could make this work to his advantage. Sure, he was going to have to be less than honest, but at this rate, getting back to Hoenn would be a piece of cake. And he quite liked cake.

“Ah, right. Well, it’s not like I regret learning to talk at all. It’s actually been pretty handy over here. I just never bothered to learn to read. Too much work, you catch my drift?” Lana nodded, somewhat relieved. He guessed that having a Naturalist on your Pokémon team wasn’t a good thing, what with the anti-human mentality. Though, he wondered how many Pokémon were Naturalists without outwardly saying so. The chances of catching an entirely pro-human team seemed pretty slim. He put his hands behind his head. “Now where are we?”

Kari made a disgruntled noise and replied, “Eterna Forest,” while glowering at the sign. He snickered.

She turned back to him, glaring.

“Well, it’s not like the sign did anything to you,” he found himself saying. He couldn’t help it, it was too easy. Could she not find anything to be happy about, other than frazzling him?

The group continued all together through the forest, but Kevin didn’t pay much attention to it. Kari was trying to get behind him, and although he had no idea what sort of prank she could possibly pull off without any hands, he wasn’t going to risk it. Unfortunately, he had to draw himself so far back that he nearly lost sight of the group before Kari decided that she also didn’t want to get lost.

As they both ran up to the others, Kevin hung back once again. Noticing this, Kari made an amused sound. She raised an eyebrow before starting to speak to him.

“Hey, Chump,” she said.

“It’s Slick,” Kevin replied. The new nickname had a nice air to it, or at least he thought so.

“I don’t care. Neither is your real name, anyway. You can drop the façade.” Her smile crept up her face rather creepily, and as redundant as the thought was, Kevin snorted.

“Façade? Are you ever going to make any sense?” He frowned.

“It starts with a K,” she replied.

He froze.

“What?”

“Hm. So I was right after all. It all adds up, and yet at the same time, it doesn’t,” she mused to herself. “Nevertheless, at least you’ve finally had the sense to call someone. I’d still like to know why you decided to pull a disappearing act, though.”

Kevin suddenly noticed that his heart was beating at an unnatural rate. “L-look. I don’t know who the hell you think you are, or who the hell you think _I_ am, but…” he trailed off, not sure where exactly he was attempting to go with this. “If this is your idea of a sick joke, stop it. I’m not the guy you’re looking for!”

“Would you just listen to me for a minute? It’s not me that’s looking for you!” Her reptilian voice managed to sound a little less shiver inducing, at any rate.

“So somebody else is trying to find me for Arceus knows what reason, and hired you and the guy who captured me to track me down?” he guessed, hardly caring. “Oh joy, now I’m really going nuts.”

The unpleasant conversation was cut short by Lana, who was yelling at them to hurry up. Seizing the opportunity to get as far away from Kari as he possibly could, he sprinted over.

Kari rolled her eyes and leisurely strolled up behind him. “Look, kid. I know we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, but I think it would be beneficial to both of us if we became friends.”

Looking at her incredulously, Kevin scoffed. “Friends? I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

“If we worked together I’m sure we could help each other!” Kari pleaded. He raised an eyebrow.

“Right. Teamwork. How can _you_ help me get out of this crazy place?” He almost laughed.

“I…” For some reason, she began to tear up. Kevin stared at her blankly until she started to cry, then decided to move closer to the rest of the team instead. Whatever her problems were, Kevin didn’t want any part of them.

*

Apparently, everyone else’s desire to make some actual progress was moot compared to Lana’s desire to rest her feet near the end of the forest. Hey, it was her fault she wore flip flops on a journey across an entire country. After some teasing from Styler, she agreed to buy some real shoes once they got into the city.

Kari had eventually calmed down, but she kept stealing glances at Kevin, the reason for which he had no idea. The few glances he returned merely furthered his suspicion of her, because she was totally in her own world over there, muttering to herself. Kevin frowned. He tried his best to look inconspicuous while at the same time attempting to listen to her.

“He’s never coming back.”

Well, that was ominous. She paused for a minute, frowning, and then muttered again. “And he’s not a ghost. That’s stupid.”

Kevin blinked. It sure sounded like she was talking about him, but he was clearly breathing. Then again… she did seem to know about him somehow. But he was definitely not a ghost. He would think he’d know if he was.

He chuckled. This was ridiculous. The whole thing was ridiculous. But it was obviously in the same universe as he remembered, considering his mom was still at home.

He thought back. It was kind of hard to tell on the fuzzy cell phone screen, him being near sighted and all, but he kind of thought his mother had looked different. Nothing drastic like evolution or anything, just overly tired. But still. Everything was odd.

If only directly asking was a plausible option. Now he understood why nobody in stories ever did the logical thing. The logical thing was _way_ too emotionally stressful. The team was full of strangers, and they were certainly not people he was happy to share his innermost secrets with. He was much more comfortable weeding out information indirectly than asking everybody why they were all so weird. It was like trying to beat a foe from far away, with Ember instead of Scratch.

…Damn. He’d always preferred physical attacks.


	5. Chapter 5

“Ahhh! You are _so_ adorable!”

Lana shrieked with glee as she eyed the Buneary currently hopping across the exit to Eterna City. Filled with giddiness and pure joy, she started hopping up and down herself, turning to her Pokémon.

“Chump! I mean Slick! I need to catch it! Help me!” Kevin shrugged and jumped in front of the Buneary, frowning. He knew how to battle, but holding back so the foe could be caught? That was another story.

“Okay, um— Ack! What are your moves, anyway?” Lana asked, ceasing her hopping and staring at him blankly. Kevin raised an eyebrow. All right, all right, it wasn’t like he hadn’t tutored his little brother on the subject before.

He swiped quickly at the Buneary, scratching her face in the process. “Scratch,” he announced, “Ember,” he said as he shot a small flame at her foot, “and some other stuff, too. Use your head. It’s not that hard,” He finished by flicking his tail. He really liked having a tail now that he was evolved, and he hoped she’d take the hint…

“Wha… Tail Whip?” Lana asked, bewildered. Kevin sighed.

“Just let me do it,” he offered, and then turned back to the Buneary, who was staring at him with a sort of depressed-looking expression. He wasn’t sure how to describe it; her eyes were droopy but the rest of her was all right. Then, without warning, one of her ears unrolled quickly and smacked his face.

...Oh. So she made him look bad, did she? Fine then. It was on.

Kevin threw a rapid punch in her face. Mach Punch, it was called, a move he’d learned shortly after evolving. (Technically, he’d practiced it before, but now he was actually capable of doing it properly.) He quickly recalled that he’d just gained a new type, too – fighting – which meant that sweet, sweet STAB was in effect.

Which meant that the Buneary was pretty much toast.

She stumbled backwards, rubbing her cheek and crying. He grinned. Oh yeah. Stabbed.

He glanced at Lana, who took a moment to let out another exclamation and throw a Pokéball. Naturally, the ball wiggled thrice and the Buneary was caught, just as any other weak Pokémon on the receiving end of a super effective attack would. Lana stared at it for a few seconds.

“…Wow. That was fast,” she said. She looked at Kevin, tilting her head. “Um, thanks. But what was with the tail thing?”

His tail flicked again, this time half-involuntary. He’d have to get used to that. “You don’t always need to use regular attacks, you know,” said Kevin.

He paused. Out of everything that was considered normal here, was a Pokémon using its own strategy okay? He hadn’t really paid attention to Mist’s capture, what with being caught up in a battle himself and all, but he was pretty sure that Lana had battled like the trainers on television, meaning that Styler never attacked without a command.

To him, that was dumb. Sure, he understood the trainer helping come up with strategies for battles and giving suggestions on which moves to make next, but if the trainer couldn’t think of anything, couldn’t the Pokémon act for themselves? Especially if they were actually experienced? After all, quick thinking was necessary if one lived in the wild.

He decided to elaborate on his point. “I… Well, when I was growing up, I had to battle for myself, right? And sometimes, regular attacks don’t work for the situation, so I got a bit creative.”

Kari’s head perked up, and Kevin groaned inside his head. “Oh, did you now? That’s nice. The crowd always loves those.”

Deciding to ignore Kari (even though she was actually being perfectly sociable all of a sudden), he set the rest of his tail on fire. “Like this. I was thinking about using it earlier. It’s like Aqua Tail except fire type. I could probably try and use Fire Spin with it too, if I wanted, even if I’m not quite sure how that’s supposed to work yet.”

Styler chirruped. “Neat!”

Lana nodded, smiling. “Oh, okay. So you’re saying that contest moves can be used in battle, too? I get it.”

Kevin blinked. “There are contests here?” he asked.

Lana nodded again. “Oh yeah, of course there are! Everyone dresses up in pretty outfits and shows off beautiful combinations, and then they battle, but the battles are more flashy than anything else, ‘cause half the time neither Pokémon faints, and—”

“And they’re very crude most of the time, seeing as most of those ‘flashy’ moves are little more than a beauty contest,” Kari finished.

Kevin snorted. “That’s the point. I thought the concept sounded stupid, too, until I saw one,” He couldn’t help letting out a grin. A Pokémon Contest was a Pokémon Contest, even in this crazy place. Thank Arceus some things were still stable, even if he didn’t particularly believe in the guy.

Mist piped up in her quiet voice, “That’s strange. Boys usually think they’re too girly,”

He crossed his arms. “Yeesh. It’s not _that_ bad. Honestly, why does this always come up whenever I talk about them?” If he had a nickel for every time his brother used the same argument—

“I never said it was wrong for you to like them, Mr. Slick,” she said in a monotone, “just strange. I find you very strange. You’re different, aren’t you?”

“Er…” Kevin had no idea how to respond to this girl. Like, no idea at all. What was he going to do, just spill all the evidence that he was “different” to someone who he’d known for two minutes? Not likely. No. Nobody needed to know anything about his—

He stopped himself. She probably just thought that he was a bit off. That was okay. He could explain that. So he would. He opened his mouth.

“Yeah, I’m weird. I’m from Hoenn, that’s why. We’re a bit different from you… Sinnoh… um, people.”

Thankfully, Lana apparently noticed that things were getting awkward, because she suggested that they finally get out of the forest and to Eterna City. Kevin relaxed once he was returned to his Pokéball, but he had a feeling that Kari was going to get Mist on his case now, too.

*

In the Eterna City Pokémon Center, Lana released everyone in order to meet the new addition to their party.

“Hi,” she said, crouching down to meet the rabbit’s eyes. “I’m Lana. What’s your name?”

The Buneary gave her a sour look and turned away. She eyed the rest of them, giving a much more sour look to Kevin, who glared back.

“…Nini,” she finally muttered.

“That’s a pretty name!” Lana encouraged, reaching out a hand to pet her. Nini responded with a death glare, to which Lana shuddered and retreated from.

Kari gave her a look of pity. “I suppose you’ve had a rough life too?”

Nini eyed her again before giving her a curt nod. Oh great, another one on the turtle of sorrow’s side.

Clearing her throat, Nini looked at the ground. “Look, I don’t like to talk, so I’ll say this only once. I’m a Buneary who is destined to fall in love at first sight. We all are. I haven’t seen my true love yet, and I’m twenty-eight. Basically, I’m a lost cause with no purpose. I’ll battle or whatever you want me to do, but don’t expect me to be enthusiastic about it. At best, I’m a hollow shell. That is all.” And with that, she pressed the button on her Pokéball and disappeared.

Kari scoffed. “Wow, I thought the whole drama queen stereotype was a joke. It’s a good thing you didn’t catch one with a boyfriend.”

The trainer looked upset. “She’s so depressed, though. I thought— I thought they were supposed to be happy and cute and…” Trailing off, she slumped down onto her knees. “I don’t understand. Ever since those Shades started things have gotten so weird,”

“The Shades aren’t the reason she’s upset, Lana, don’t be naïve. Anyone can get depressed, the only thing that’s different is that Pokémon can tell you, now,” Kari said sternly, looking her trainer directly in the eye. Lana sighed and nodded, standing up.

“I’m sorry. I’m going to go buy some shoes now.” She reached for her Pokéballs and returned her Pokémon to them, sending Kevin into the black void yet again.

Kevin reviewed the scene in his head. “The Shades” was some sort of event that changed things; giving Pokémon the ability to speak. Kari was a completely normal person when she wasn’t being creepy. And Lana was probably a normal girl who was just as confused as he was.

He thought back further. Lana had mentioned something about rights, which was probably connected to the Shades, seeing as the language barrier was definitely one of the main things preventing Pokémon from being treated better in Hoenn. And Naturalists had most likely cropped up around that time too, preferring to be separate from humans and everything. The question was when this had happened and why he hadn’t heard about it before.

…Maybe his mother was a Naturalist? But she allowed him access to TV. The news had never mentioned anything. Plus, she’d married his father, who wasn’t exactly the most natural thing to live on the planet either. Yeah. He wasn’t really natural at all.

His mother said she’d call him back, but seeing as they didn’t have caller ID and he was using Lana’s cell phone, his best bet was to call her again himself. If anything, it’d be to ensure that the regular world still existed somewhere. And after that, he’d have to ask about the Shades. And then…?

Then he’d go home and apologize for getting caught and continue to watch league matches on TV. And battle his little brother on the side. And then he could just forget about Sinnoh and live happily ever after and yeah.

Sometimes he wished he could be a little less idealistic.


	6. Chapter 6

“So you’ve come to challenge the Eterna Gym? All right,” said the gym leader, who was leaning against some sort of pedestal inscribed with all the winning challengers of that year. Of course, Kevin couldn’t see that, but he was pretty sure that was what was happening. He was currently inside his Pokéball, straining to hear the conversation.

“Y-yes! I’m Lana,” said his trainer. Why was she so nervous? She already had a badge.

“Okay. Tell you what; you can battle me in five minutes if the guy who challenged me yesterday doesn’t show. Which means… You’re going to have to wait, because I see him now,” The gym leader must have been looking behind Lana’s shoulder or something, because judging by the motion he could feel from his Pokéball, Lana turned around.

“Oh my— Hi Henry! It’s me!” Lana squealed. Kevin blinked. Er… okay.

The person called Henry replied, “Oh, hey. You’re on your journey too?”

“Yeah! I picked Turtwig! But I also have a lot of other Pokémon now, and some guy traded me his Chimchar—”

“Somebody gave you their starter?” Henry cut her off, sounding suspicious.

Kevin sighed. Okay. Despite whatever rights thing went on in the place, Sinnoh’s human population still tended to speak the same way Hoenn trainers did, which meant that “Lana’s Pokémon Team” was being shown off like a collection of stamps. Ugh, he _hated_ when trainers did that. And what was that about being a starter?

“Yeah, weird, huh? But he was having problems with him or something, so I accepted. He’s really not that bad, he just kind of does his own thing sometimes,” Lana said.

Narrowing his eyes, Kevin kicked at the Pokéball wall and released himself.

“Whoa, wait a second. I’m not… I wasn’t his starter,” he told Lana. He then looked over to his right to see whoever the Henry guy was.

Henry was a tall kid with longish brown hair that stuck up in places. He was wearing a blue shirt with something written on it, too, and jeans. Kevin diverted his attention back to Lana.

“Huh? I thought you were the only Pokémon he had,” Lana replied.

“Probably, but I’m still not a starter,” Kevin retaliated. “Look, what part of ‘I grew up in Hoenn’ didn’t you get?”

Lana took a step backwards. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I thought starter meant that it was your first Pokémon.” She muttered something under her breath that Kevin chose to ignore.

Henry was squinting at him. Kevin turned around. “What?”

“Chimchar are native to Sinnoh. You say you came from Hoenn? Were you domesticated at all, or is there an undocumented settlement of your species in the area?” Yeesh, he sounded like some wannabe scientist guy. Kevin wasn’t too fond of people like that.

“He called his mom earlier, so I just assumed that he was bred in captivity…” Lana said. Kevin rolled his eyes. Hello? He was right in front of them? This was going nowhere.

“No. Wild Hoenn Pokémon. I said this already. Can we just drop this please?” Kevin was getting tired of talking to dumb ten-year-olds. Lana complied and returned him back to his Pokéball.

The sensation of being turned into red light was sort of relaxing. Kevin frowned. Why was it so difficult for everyone to believe that he was from Hoenn? It wasn’t a lie. Heck, the only thing he’d lied about was his name, and even then, that wasn’t lying. He really did prefer to be called something other than his real name for plenty of reasons, one being because of the way his brother had whined it whenever he won a battle.

Battle…

That wannabe scientist guy was currently challenging the gym leader, right?

Kevin’s curiosity was getting the best of him. But hey, he’d never actually seen a gym battle in-person. He might as well sneak a peek at what the kid could do, even if the battle wouldn’t be as high quality as the league videos he’d seen. Yeah, that was a good idea.

Kevin kicked the Pokéball again, succeeding in releasing himself once more. Lana gave a yelp of surprise and turned to him.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, glaring at him. He shrugged.

“Just wanted to watch,” he said. He glanced at his surroundings, found himself on what appeared to be bleachers at the side of the stadium, and sat down. Then he laced his fingers together and focused his attention onto the scene that was happening at the moment.

On Henry’s side was a vibrant red dragonfly Pokémon, beating her wings too fast for Kevin to make out, not that he ever made out more than a bunch of smudges. The gym leader had sent out a Turtwig. This startled Kevin for a moment – the Turtwig on the field looked far more sociable and happy than Kari. He was in better shape, too, being a gym leader’s Pokémon and all.

Despite that, if Kevin was getting his types correct, the leader had a distinct disadvantage against what was clearly a bug and flying type. Which meant that the fight would either be one-sided or awesome.

Henry calmly commanded his Pokémon. “Yanma, Wing Attack.”

“Dodge,” was all the poncho-clad gym leader said. It suddenly occurred to Kevin that he didn’t know who she was.

“Who is she?” he questioned Lana beside him.

“Hm? That’s Gardenia,” she answered.

Well, okay. He’d never heard of her. He supposed not all gym leaders made international headlines. Turning back to the battle, Kevin started to spectate again. The Yanma was quite fast, as she was moving so quickly that she was nothing more than a red streak in the air. The Turtwig tried his best to dodge, but the airborne insect quickly caught up with him.

In one fell swoop, her wings pretty much sliced a clean cut on the Turtwig’s side. The Turtwig, unable to balance properly with the fresh wound, took a tumble to the ground and stayed down. Huh, it was one sided after all.

“Return,” Gardenia said calmly. She was probably used to this.

Henry did the same for some reason, opting for a different Pokéball. Kevin frowned.

“He’s switching because…?” He turned to Lana.

“I guess he felt that Yanma battled enough. It took down a Cherubi too, but you were still in your Pokéball,” Lana didn’t bother to take her eyes off the match.

Shrugging, Kevin turned back in time to see the new fighter…

Ah. No way.

“A Monferno,” Kevin stated disdainfully. “Wonderful. Damn it.”

“What’s your problem? It’s your species, isn’t it?” Lana squinted her eyes. “Really, what’s with you today?”

Ha, that was a good one. Lana totally needed glasses. (So did he, but even from far away he could see the obvious.) But so long as she was oblivious, he could work with it.

“It’s nothing. Um… Clan rivalry junk. Just ignore me.” He focused on the other Monferno, whose battling was pretty standard; mixing both physical and special attacks together. Then again, it was Henry who was telling him what to do. The Roserade he was facing didn’t stand a chance against the fire attacks and was down like the Turtwig before it.

Kevin watched Gardenia hand Henry his badge, announcing that the kid was skilled and would do well in the upcoming league. Then Lana decided to dash over and congratulate her friend, so he followed.

He stopped short a foot or two and stared at the other Monferno. Gray eyes, sharp fangs, and a hunched stance, though that was mostly because Kevin had the advantage of being balanced on his legs. Yeah, no doubt about it, this Monferno was normal. And it was easy to tell.

The other Monferno was eyeing him too, and after giving a quick glance upwards to see that his trainer was occupied with Lana, walked over.

“Where’d you learn to stand like that?” he questioned. Kevin smiled falsely and opted to stall.

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?” The other raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“Ifern, Stark Mountain. You?”

Stark Mountain? Where in the world was Stark Mountain? Kevin nodded. “Right. Um, Slick, from… Mount Chimney,” That was a lie, but whatever.

“Ah, yes. The Southern clan was dying out, last I heard. Then again, you guys always love to stick to tradition, right? The Shades couldn’t have been good for you, one of your own and everything…” He suddenly stared at Kevin’s face. “Is blue a natural eye colour for you?”

“…Yeah, pretty much. Uh, the Shades—”

At that moment, however, Henry chose to return Ifern to his Pokéball and leave. Waving goodbye to Lana, the ten-year-old stepped out the door and never looked back.

“Hey, Slick, it’s an hour to our gym match, okay? We’d better go over some strategies,” Lana said.

Damn. Even if he had gotten the chance… He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear things from someone like that.


	7. Chapter 7

“Okay, kid. You have an advantage here, seeing what I battle with. I always stick to the same order, so choose your first Pokémon.” Gardenia didn’t really sound professional, but Kevin supposed that she was all right, seeing as she was still a qualified gym leader and all. Then again, her main type was grass.

Grass types sucked. Kevin could confirm that.

After going over Henry’s battle with the team, Lana decided that a similar strategy would work best. Thus, Styler was in charge of the Cherubi and Turtwig and Kevin would handle the Roserade. That was fine and all; Kevin was pretty confident that he could take care of a Roserade without breaking a sweat. But Styler wasn’t evolved and looked frail enough to be knocked out in one Mach Punch. Maybe he’d find it in him to evolve during the match or something. That’d be pretty cool.

Speaking of Mach Punch… It’d be very easy to modify it into Fire Punch, wouldn’t it? It was worth a shot later, at least.

Lana nodded confidently, turning to Styler, and the rest of them were recalled into their Pokéballs. Kevin smiled. How hard could a _grass type_ gym possibly be?

…Apparently, Kevin jinxed it. He was called into battle against a nearly perfectly healthy Turtwig with a haughty smirk on his face. Turning to his trainer, Kevin raised an eyebrow and got into a battle stance.

“Reflect.” Gardenia wasted no time in choosing her attacks. The Turtwig was equally as fast; his eyes oddly glowing blue as a clear barrier of something shiny fabricated around his body. Well, whatever, it wasn’t like he couldn’t avoid using physical attacks.

“Flame Wheel!” Of course. Just because a move was fire type didn’t mean it was special… Or maybe Lana just mixed up Reflect and Light Screen. Whatever. It’d probably do a decent amount of damage regardless.

Flipping into a somersault, Kevin quickly lit his body on fire. The somersault propelled him enough to keep moving as if he were a wheel, so he ploughed through the Turtwig’s barrier and into his side. Which… didn’t do quite as much damage as he’d hoped. He hoped Lana noticed and told him to use Ember next.

…Wait, what was he thinking? It wasn’t like Lana controlled his _every_ move. He could just use Ember himself. He flipped out of his Flame Wheel and prepared his attack, only to be met with a flurry of sharp leaves scratching his face. Damn fire, obscuring his already poor vision.

Kevin spat out a plume of flames, visibly hurting the Turtwig enough to make his smirking face look a little more like Kari’s depressed one. He took the time to jump backwards, out of range of any potential Razor Leaf attack and awaited a suggestion from Lana. She was the one who was supposed to be thinking of strategies, after all.

He gave her a glance, expectantly looking at her face. To Kevin’s dismay, she merely shrugged.

“You’re doing brilliant, just keep doing what you’re doing,” She half smiled. “I mean, you obviously know how to battle.”

Kevin blinked. The whole point of having a trainer was to become stronger together, wasn’t it? That seemed to be the moral at the end of every cartoon when he was a kid. Not that he minded battling on his own, because he liked that. But really.

He decided to go with it, seeing as he was already in battle mode and was about to win. The Turtwig was running towards him; most likely obeying an order he hadn’t heard. The barrier of light created from the Reflect followed it, slowly deteriorating but otherwise perfectly fine. Recklessly, Kevin went into another Flame Wheel. Well… why not?

Despite the effects of Reflect, the head on collision was too much for the Turtwig to bear, and for the second time that day, he fell to the ground unconscious. Kevin was pretty sure that Styler was at least able to take out whatever a Cherubi was, since it sounded like something small and weak, so that meant that his one on one with the Roserade was about to start.

He felt reasonably all right; it wasn’t like Razor Leaf was super effective or anything, so he smirked and waited for his opponent to materialize.

The superhero-like rose creature was approximately the same size as he was, but Gardenia’s signature Pokémon certainly looked older and more experienced. So it was like fighting one of those Breloom from back home. Okay.

Gardenia smiled. “Poison Sting,”

What? Who in their right mind liked to use Poison Sting, barring weak-ass bugs who couldn’t do better? Kevin barely flinched as the tiny, poisonous needle poked into his shoulder. Mm’kay. He fired an Ember at the Roserade’s face, but she shielded it with her blue bouquet to reduce the damage.

Right. Kevin’s options were pretty limited, what with not knowing a whole lot of special attacks. Actually… Ember was really the only special attack he had, since he hadn’t exactly mastered Flamethrower yet. He supposed he could stall until the Reflect broke down and then start on a physical assault, but he didn’t exactly remember how long the attack was supposed to last.

He facepalmed mentally. Leave it to his hyperactive younger self to ignore the “useless” non-damaging moves’ effects when he saw them on television. Brute force would have to do for now.

Kevin formed a Flame Wheel and shot himself towards the Roserade, who countered by tripping him with some sort of vine. It didn’t hurt much, but the fall, along with the smirking face of his opponent was really annoying. He launched himself into another Flame Wheel from the back.

“Grass Knot again, Rose,” called Gardenia. Oh, a knot made of grass. _That_ made sense. Despite his sarcastic thoughts, the Roserade was quick enough to trip him again. _Again_.

“Poison Sting,” Gardenia said again while Roserade complied. The new needle hit his forearm, and judging by the prickling pain shooting up his arm, he was poisoned this time. He grimaced. At least it wasn’t Sleep Powder or Spore. Oh, how he hated Spore…

Quickly opting for a new tactic before the poison inflicted any more pain, Kevin settled for the move his father had taught him. Although he really didn’t like using the move ever since his father had decided to abandon him and the rest of his family, Aerial Ace was flying type, and it’d give him a different angle where he’d be less likely to trip.

Starting with a high jump, Kevin rapidly dove down from the air to slash at the Roserade with his pretty much nonexistent claws. The move took the grass type by surprise, and rightfully so; it wasn’t the most popular attack for a Pokémon when they already had an advantage.

Kevin decided that ending the match quickly would be the best thing to do and delivered another, ground-based Aerial Ace to the Roserade’s jaw. As she toppled over, she smiled at him.

“Good match.” She was then recalled to her Pokéball.

Kevin sighed. The poison acted up again, making him cringe, but Lana didn’t notice as she ran up to Gardenia with a big smile on her face.

“I won! I had to try twice for my first badge, but this time I won!” She grinned, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. Gardenia nodded curtly, frowning.

“Yes, it’s true that I lost, but I wouldn’t say that you won.” The woman folded her arms. Lana’s grin disappeared quickly.

“What?”

“You weren’t giving any commands to your Monferno. I realize that you are a new trainer, but I’m afraid if you do something like that at the Pokémon League, you may be disqualified. Being a Pokémon trainer means that you need to work together to win, not that you can just let your Pokémon do all the work. You’re lucky that your Pokémon was experienced enough, otherwise the match may not have ended in your favour.” Gardenia sternly looked Lana in the eye.

Lana was silent for a minute until she nodded with disappointment. “Okay. I get it.”

Gardenia smiled. “Don’t worry, you’re not the only one I’ve seen who relies on their Pokémon’s skill. Your Monferno will be able to help you come up with strategies if you ask it, I’m sure.” Kevin suppressed an eyeroll and nodded.

“Well then, this is yours,” the gym leader said as she casually pulled a piece of metal out of her pocket. “The Forest Badge. You’ve still got a long way to go, so don’t start Slaking. Heh, get it?”

Kevin snorted. It was an awful pun, but he liked it nonetheless. He stopped short, though, as the poison affected him again. He clenched his arm.

“Ah! I forgot, you were poisoned! Uh, okay, I’ll take you to the Pokémon Center right away!”

And with that, they were one badge richer.


	8. Chapter 8

Styler flitted around overhead, occasionally swooping low to the ground to graze the tall grass with his tiny wings. They were situated somewhere in the middle of Route 206, down on the lower path due to Lana not bringing a bike with her on her journey. Above them, cyclists zoomed by on the upper road, apparently having dangerous Pokémon battles while doing so.

Since Lana also lacked any traveling companions, she’d decided that having her Pokémon out with her would suffice. For the most part, Kevin agreed to this; he certainly preferred fresh air to the odd state that the Pokéball encased him in, but the normalcy of the whole situation was still unnerving. He figured that now was better than ever for learning a bit more about Sinnoh.

“Kinda funny how it’s normal to walk together now, isn’t it?” He hoped that by laying the thought out there, he’d at least get some new information that wasn’t another vague mentioning of “the Shades.”

To his dismay, Kari was the one who answered. “Are you blind? We’ve been getting odd looks from all those cyclists up on the bike path,” She gestured with a nod of her head up to one of the people above them.

Kevin glanced upward. All he could really make out was a smudge of different colours that probably made up a human. He opted for a sort-of comeback. “Point is, it’s not wrong.”

“You say that like it’s supposed to be a crime,” Kari said, narrowing her eyes. “Honestly, you’re acting more like a human than a Pokémon.”

He was? Damn it. “Yeah, well, I grew up—”

“In the ever-so-exotic land of Hoenn where nobody did this. Yeah, we heard you the first time. Newsflash, kid. It’s not nineteen-ninety-nine any more.”

Well duh. New Year’s was almost ten months ago. “I know tha—”

“Really? Do you? ‘Cause you act like it was only yesterday. Exactly how deep in the forest did you have to live to not notice the last decade of social advancement? You’re pretty much a walking—”

Freezing, Kari whipped her head around to look at him. “What’s the year?”

“Not ninety-nine,” Kevin replied, walking ahead of her. He honestly had no idea why she kept randomly changing subjects like that. Creepy turtle—

“No really, tell me. Please.” Damned determined, too.

“Fine! It’s two thousand! Two. Zero. Zero. Zero. There you go,” He glared at the reptile with as much disdain as he could muster.

Above him, Styler chirruped. “Heh, you’re pretty funny, Slick!” The Starly smiled and flew over to Lana, settling on her shoulder.

“Funny? Wha—” Suddenly, Kari stepped on his foot. “Arceus, what the hell do you want?”

Her expression was surprisingly softer. She lowered her voice. “How were you first captured?”

He blinked. It wasn’t any of her bloody business, thank you very much. When he didn’t answer, Kari pressed on.

“Let me ask you something else, then. Do Pokémon talk in Hoenn?” Her scarred eye gave the impression of staring right through him. He glared at it.

“No, they don’t. There are a couple of exceptions. Me, for one. But the circumstances were different for us, and they’d be difficult for one of you crazy Sinnoh people to understand. Difficult for anyone to understand, really.” Kevin was nearing dangerous territory, here. One slip up and he’d be far worse off than being a little girl’s possession.

“Do these circumstances have anything to do with the fact that you’re different yourself?” she whispered softly.

His eyes widened. “Where the hell are you getting this from? Just because I like contests doesn’t mean I… Screw off.” He trudged over to the front of the group, far away from any more creepy questions.

Seriously, though. Where was she getting her information? His name, his… differences. She wasn’t out of her Pokéball when that Iffy guy or whatever his name was was battling. Yet she still knew _something_.

He thought back. She could possibly have been one of his father’s friends back when he was young. But she was too young for that to be likely, and didn’t exactly have the same cheery demeanour that Bill or Uncle Nick had.

He really missed Uncle Nick.

Kevin shook his head. The last thing he needed was to get depressed from old memories of a time where things weren’t messed up. A time when the most he had to worry about were the random Wurmple and Taillow who called them freaks. And yet, by telling himself not to remember that, he remembered it anyway. Which lead him to think of other things he need not think about, like breathing and blinking. And now he had to force himself to manually breath and blink until he started to do it subconsciously again.

And now his head hurt.

He looked up from his semi-slow pace to see Styler engaged in battle with a wild Ponyta. Well, actually, Styler apparently just beat it, because everyone was cheering. The bird then started to glow white, and Kevin realized that he was evolving.

It took two seconds or so to walk over to Styler, and thankfully he wasn’t too late to view the evolution. He’d seen evolution only twice before – once when his father evolved into his final stage, and his own. He smiled. It was actually pretty cool looking to watch.

Styler’s wings grew rapidly, increasing to twice their size. In general, he seemed to be just growing into a bird that was double his height. Then again, most first evolutions were like that. As the glow faded, a very similar yet nonetheless different avian Pokémon was in front of them.

“Oh, awesome! You’re as strong as Slick now, right?” Lana asked, a big grin on her face.

Styler flapped his wings once or twice before turning to her. “I suppose you could say that. I really doubt that I’ll be able to defeat him without proper planning or training, though… what?”

Lana and Kevin stared at him. “The hell happened?”

“What do you mean? I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Styler replied.

“But you’re all… wordy, and stuff,” Kevin said. Nothing made sense here.

Nini sighed. “You’ve got to be kidding. Everyone knows that most Pokémon undergo personality changes when they evolve. It’s part of getting a more mature body. I’ll bet you were a sweet little boy too before you evolved into your arrogant self.”

“Not really,” replied Kari, who’d managed to catch up to them.

“Oh… I see what you mean now. I didn’t realize that you didn’t know about it, Slick,” Styler added.

“Still acting like a human,” Kari remarked.

He snorted. “I’d tell you what you’re acting like, but there are kids around.”

“You’re a child, too,” Kari said, frowning.

Kevin said nothing. He didn’t understand why Kari felt the need to keep triggering arguments. They were always the same, too. Couldn’t she give him any useful information while insulting him? It’d at least give him a reason to listen to her…

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, feminine scream that sounded eerily like Lana’s.


	9. Chapter 9

“Wha—” Kevin quickly turned around upon hearing the shriek. Now what?

“Oh, for god’s sake, Lana, could you stop making us go deaf every time you see a cute Pokémon?” Kari snapped irritably.

There was a Pachirisu in front of the trainer, and true to Kari’s word, she was certainly cute. Not that… Not that she was _cute_ cute, but cute in the generic way that small creatures were cute. Right.

Lana muttered some sort of apology before utterly fangirling over the squirrel Pokémon. “I’ve never seen one in person before, oh gosh, um, can I— Can I catch you? Please? You’re just so adorable and I really want an electric type and oh gosh—”

The Pachirisu smiled. “Mais oui, but of course! I was looking for une fille adorable pour mon… _capture_ ,” she replied, drawing out the last word.

Okay, Kevin didn’t know much about languages, but he was pretty sure that Sinnoh wasn’t a French region. That was the place with the humongous tower. Then again, Sinnoh wasn’t exactly a region that liked to stick to what was conventional. Whatever. Random French Pachirisu girl. Not exactly out of place.

“Oh! You speak French!” Lana remarked.

The Pachirisu continued. “Oui, oui. Je parle le français, et tu parles l’anglais. Et… um, how you say… I have an accent.”

Kari laughed. “A fake accent.”

“Non, non, c’est vrai!” she exclaimed. “Je m’appelle Cheri, sans un ‘e’.”

The turtle of sorrows rolled her eyes. “Yeesh. Look. We’re nowhere near Kalos. Nobody here speaks a lick of French. You don’t have to go around pretending that it’s your first language, you know. It makes you sound super pretentious.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Kari really seemed to like giving “advice” on how not to annoy her.

Cheri frowned. “Ah, tu es très malhereuse.”

Kari narrowed her eyes. “Really. Your French is way too simplistic to be your real language, so stop pretending.”

“Hm? I do not see _you_ speaking French, mon amie, so I would not claim to know more about it than moi,” Cheri smiled widely and hopped up into Lana’s arms. “Est-ce-que pouvez-vous entraper moi?”

“Eh?”

“Can you capture me or something,” Kari muttered bitterly. “It’s not that hard to figure out from the context.”

Upon hearing the translation, Lana happily pulled out a Pokéball – a special, pink and yellow one that Kevin did not know the name of – and captured Cheri without difficulty. The ball didn’t even wiggle before clicking shut.

She grinned and decided to run over to the rest of the team who’d lagged behind. After Cheri was released from her Pokéball and everyone else saw her, the group began to chat animatedly, leaving Kari and Kevin alone.

Kevin furrowed his eyebrows. It was nice that a new team member didn’t like Kari for once, but judging by the conversation they’d had he didn’t think that Cheri was somebody that he’d like, either. (Then again, he only really understood half of her sentences, what with him not knowing an ounce of French and all.)

Kari focused her attention back to him. “Do _you_ like her?”

“What?” By now, he really should have been used to her bluntness.

“I was just thinking that we could form a temporary alliance to get her to cut the crap. That is, if you think she’s annoying, too,” the Turtwig replied.

“Again with the working together? I still don’t understand what makes you think that a tag team would be _beneficial_ , or whatever you said,” Kevin crossed his arms.

“You’re obviously still unfamiliar with your surroundings, and I think I know why.” She closed her eyes before continuing. “You… Something happened to you, and you wound up here with no clue that anything out of the ordinary even happened. And the only reason you haven’t taken off already is because you want to figure out why you’re here. Right?”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty vague deduction, Sherlock.”

“So I’m right,” Kari pressed.

“I don’t think I trust you enough to say, sorry.” In truth, Kevin just thought she was nuts. A nutter who’d paid enough attention to him to deduce what was going on…

Kari nodded. “Let’s try something else. I know someone a lot like you. He didn’t know very much about Sinnoh either until he started to trust me. Once we became friends, he became a lot happier and got what he wanted. Granted, it wasn’t what he intended to do, but it was still something he wanted. Sound familiar at all?”

“…No. It really doesn’t.” If she thought that she had him figured out—

“Right, it wouldn’t. You were missing then. Nobody knew how to contact you, so you never would have known,” Kari stared at him intently.

Kevin blinked. “Just what are you trying to tell me?”

She sighed, shaking your head. “You’re quite dense, Kevin.”

Whoa there. “How the hell do you know my name?!” Kevin clenched his fists.

“Just look at all the clues and put the pieces together, you moron! I’ll spell them out for you again! The Shades! Lana! Her phone! Society! Talking Pokémon!” Kari was staring at him incredulously, and Lana had turned to watch them once she heard her name. “I mean… seriously! It’s so obvious!”

“Well I’m _sorry_ that I can’t see what you’re talking about! But has it ever occurred to you that what may seem obvious in Crazyland isn’t so obvious for normal people to figure out?” Oh, that was it. She’d gotten him really pissed now.

“You’re not the normal person here, Kevin! Deny it all you want, but you are not and never will be a normal Pokémon. You are Kevin Nicholas Holly, and you are—”

“Shut up! Just shut up! You know what? I don’t have to take this. You’re right, I can leave right now and nobody can do anything about it. Yeah, actually, that sounds nice. So I’m going to leave, you can keep your deluded conclusions to yourself and I’ll never have to put up with any of this again. Goodbye.”

Kevin turned and stalked off in some random direction, it didn’t really matter. Nothing mattered, not now. He just needed to get away from that damn turtle and the rest of the insane population of Sinnoh forever. And that was precisely what he set out to do.

*

“I am _such_ an idiot,” Kevin said to himself. He hadn’t actually wanted to leave. And Kari was _this close_ to giving him the information he needed. But then he had to get mad, stomp away in a huff, and come back three hours later to discover that Kari and the rest of them were gone.

As in, they took him seriously and thought he actually intended to live the rest of his life in Sinnoh. In _the wild_. Without any idea where he was.

Well damn. “Now what?”


	10. Chapter 10

Damn it. Damnity-damn-damnaroo. Just where the hell were all the fruit bearing trees? How did anyone in the region eat around here? Kevin found himself growling after discovering that none of the local vegetation seemed to show any signs of being edible – at least not for his diet.

He vaguely remembered being taught that most regions other than Hoenn didn’t have the proper climate to sustain the growing season year round, but this was just getting ridiculous. It didn’t help that the landscape currently surrounding him had gradually changed from grassy field-like areas to the base of a mountain.

Mount Chimney had grass growing on it. Why couldn’t this one?

Kevin kicked a nearby rock to vent his anger, then turned to his right. He had passed the borders of the city in front of him several times while searching for nourishment but never actually considered entering it. From its appearance, it looked like it was a mining town; there was a giant entrance to a cavern that was apparently open to the public and a ton of rubble littering the ground around it, along with what looked like construction materials. Either way, the city was brown, not green.

While he was off on his adventure before, back home, in the more civilized parts, he’d sometimes try and get some market stall owner to give him some food out of pity. He’d long since mastered looking adorable to humans. But due to his evolution and the general societal differences, he somehow doubted that it’d work as well. Nevertheless, it was worth a shot.

He wandered into the city, squinting in an attempt to find some place that would be selling food. To his dismay, there didn’t seem to be any open stalls, which meant he’d have to visit a grocery store or a restaurant or something instead. At least one building had the decency to include an oran berry on their sign, making that store his best bet.

He stepped into the store cautiously. Nobody cared that he was a Pokémon, apparently, while he wandered around the produce section. A couple of customers gave him weird looks, but nothing to the point of trying to kick him out. He supposed that was better than nothing.

Kevin gazed across the baskets of fruits. Oran berries came in giant boxes that would satisfy a Snorlax, at least for breakfast. Whatever. It wasn’t like he was _that_ picky. The other berries were the same, individual sale being pointless for humans, he figured. That left stuff like bananas, oranges, peaches, apples…

He smirked. There was only one person in the world who would happily eat apples all day, and that was his little brother. Kyle loved the fruit for no other reason than it being “delicious” and everything else apparently tasting like garbage. Personally, Kevin liked peaches more, but for nostalgia’s sake, he’d go for apples today.

Deciding that two would be enough for one dinner, Kevin grabbed a pair of golden delicious (the kind that Kyle once declared was the absolute king of all fruits) and set off towards the checkout. And then… well, he hoped that there was some sympathetic teenage girl who thought he was like, totally cute and she’d gladly pay for the food with her own pay check. He hoped.

Unfortunately, the only people working were middle-aged people, who Kevin had learned were much, much more cynical about saving up their money. Something about mortgages, whatever those were. Then maybe… just… try and be friendly? It was really all he could do.

He took a deep breath and marched up to some lady with her hair up in a bun. She eyed him carefully, as if he was going to cause trouble or something. Maybe Sinnoh wasn’t so different after all.

“Um, hey…” Kevin began. “Look. I’m starving, there’s nothing growing on the trees and I’m kind of broke. Do you think I could have these?” Flat-out honesty felt weird after the shouting match with Kari.

She hesitated. “You’re not… the Shade, are you?”

Kevin blinked. The Shade was a Pokémon? And… not plural? “Um…”

The woman looked a little scared now. “Oh, um, you can have the apples, just… just don’t do anything, okay? We’re an innocent company and I’m just an employee that needs a bit of extra cash… please?”

He stared at her in confusion. “…Yeah, okay. Bye,” he said before hurrying out.

*

While he ate his apples far up on a tree branch devoid of its own fruit, Kevin tried to remember everything he’d been told about the Shades, which was, frankly, next to nothing. The way people had spoken about it before made it seem like some sort of mystical event, like a shadow that had covered Sinnoh and left its Pokémon inhabitants with the ability to speak like humans. Not some Monferno creep who apparently stole food by threatening the people running the store.

If the latter _was_ true, though, that meant that the Shades, plural, were a group of Pokémon (and or humans?) who went around being criminals. But why would that mean that Pokémon were suddenly able to speak human? He guessed that he needed a bit more information. Duh.

There was something unnerving about the way that the woman talked to him though – she asked him if he was _the_ Shade, not just a Shade… So that meant their leader was a Monferno?

He suddenly remembered what that Iffy guy had said to him at the gym. _“The Shades couldn’t have been good for you, one of your own and everything…”_

Okay, that settled it. Their leader was a Monferno, most likely from Hoenn as well. Well, that made a little more sense. Kevin’s mother had always told stories about how the Mount Chimney clan had been borderline insane when she left, due to their passion to stay true to tradition. They’d even tried to kidnap her and his brother to bring her back; thinking she’d been brainwashed by his dad or something. So “the Shade” was a cuckoo who immigrated to Crazyland? Okay.

There was still one unsettling detail, though. He remembered something vague that Kari had said. What was it exactly?

_You’ve got the wrong guy, whatever it is he’s important for.”_

## “Wrong guy, hm? Well, I guess that my sources could have been a little  shady.”

Somebody was looking for him… and the person was shady…

The Shades were hunting him down?

Crap.

The Shades were from Hoenn, or at least their leader was. The Hoenn clan loved tradition. Kevin’s mom sort of… defied them. They got mad, and wanted her to come back, along with Kyle for some reason. Kevin hadn’t been welcome because, well, apparently there were too many things wrong with him. And his dad? Even worse.

But now they were looking for him. Also his mother, he was sure. And probably his father and brother too. And once they found them, they’d take back his mom and brother and most likely try and kill the rest of them, since by their definition, his father was a demon… and therefore Kevin was too. Well, technically he’d be half-demon, but that probably wouldn’t matter…

In short, it wouldn’t be good if they found him.

So, if Kari knew about the whole thing… Was she part of some sort of secret rebellion against the Shades? Staying undercover so that he wouldn’t turn on her if he joined up with the Shades or something? And maybe, when she had been muttering to herself back in Eterna Forest, she was actually relaying information… Maybe with a secret communicator?

Wait, wait, wait… He was getting a little wild with his theories. Secret agents wouldn’t think that he was a ghost. That was what she was wondering, right? So maybe…

Ha! She was one of their almost-victims, managing to escape while also overhearing who they planned to kill next: a blue-eyed Chimchar with a human’s name. She was talking to herself because… they’d addled her brain through torture so much that she was somewhat insane too. Yeah. That would explain why her eye was scarred; a consequence of the struggle she went through to get away. And when she met him, she tried to warn him subtly so that she wouldn’t be caught again. Yes, that had to be it. It had to.

His mother’s strange reaction to the phone call he’d given her made sense now, too. She’d probably been contacted by… Someone… who told her that she was going to be attacked soon. Naturally, she was in a panic and wanted to warn his father. That’s why she needed to call Cory first.

But, wait. If Kevin was already on the phone, why not just tell him then and there? Maybe she was just in a panic…

Well, he’d figured something out. Now if he could only find out where the Shades were, he could inform the police or whatever to get them arrested. And then he and his family could rest easy, and Kari could stop nagging him about everything being so obvious and right in front of his nose.

Heh, for once, things were finally looking up.

*

“Can you tell me where the third gym is? I’m looking for a trainer.”

“East, I think.”

“Um… ‘Kay, but is it like, in a city or…?”

“It’s called Hearthome. Giant city with a humongous park and contest hall. Haven’t you heard of it before?”

“Er, no, I’m not from here—”

“Whoa, wait! Are you Mr. Shade? Oh, uh, can I get your autograph?”

“What?”

“I take it you haven’t come across a fan in a while, then, right? That must be why you’re kind of disguised, am I right? You’re a smart guy. But don’t worry, Mr. Shade. A few of us see right through that liar’s claims. We’re on your side.”

“Um… thanks?”

“So, the autograph?”

“Um, I can’t really write…”

“Oh right, I guess you can’t without a pen… Oh well. Really cool meeting you!”

Kevin stared after the enormous Pokémon. It was like Bidoof, but evolved.

Did he… Did he just meet an evil guy who was actually friendly? Or were his conclusions completely wrong?


	11. Chapter 11

It was sunny, it was summer, and Kevin was having the time of his life. It had rained the night before, so the ground was slightly damp and the fruit on the trees still glistened with water droplets, but he didn’t mind. After all, all he had to do was channel heat to his feet, and the water evaporated before it even touched him. He’d learned that trick from his dad.

Said dad was following along behind, keeping an eye on him, and being a bit more careful that he didn’t accidentally step in a puddle. Although the trick worked most of the time for the both of them, Kevin soon realized that he was far better at it than his father ever was – Cory just didn’t seem to be able to use his fire all that well.

Regardless, Kevin kept on running along, occasionally scaling a tree to grab a berry or two for a snack. There was a mutual agreement in the Holly family that deemed pecha berries to reign superior compared to others (save for Kyle, who hated them), so Kevin threw a couple of the heart-shaped pink fruit to his dad. Cory smiled and ate his, too.

The scene would have been picture perfect if it were allowed to last. But when was the last time anything had been perfect?

There happened to be a small nest on a branch of the pecha berry tree, which also happened to house a young, baby Taillow. The Taillow, being an infant and all, assumed that Kevin was going to attack, seeing as he’d climbed up the tree. She screeched, calling out for her mother, who quickly flew over to see what was wrong.

The mother Swellow, upon seeing him and his father on the ground near the tree – Kevin had climbed down to eat – went utterly berserk. She made a dive for Kevin with her talons, and just barely missed when his father pulled him away. Cory and the bird then started to argue, neither side appearing to get their point across.

“Really, we weren’t going to eat her, we’re herbivores! You’re the top predator in this forest, remember?”

## “You dare speak to us in that tongue, demon? How dare you! You were planning to infect my baby!”

“Damn it, would you just listen?”

## “I shall not pay any attention to that vile language of yours, you monster!”

_“Fine! Is this better?”_

_“We should have gotten rid of you the moment you stepped foot in our forest! Die, demon!”_

To an outsider, the Swellow’s words would have sounded ridiculous, but to Kevin, they were terrifying. He didn’t understand. Why did speaking the way he did make you a demon? It’s not like he’d ever hurt anybody…

The argument had turned into a full-fledged battle now. Cory was at a disadvantage; his part-fighting type being weak to flying, of course, but he was putting up a decent enough fight. The baby Taillow in the tree continued to shriek, yet the other Taillow and Swellow who came to investigate meekly stood on the sidelines.

Kevin was confused. The mother Swellow had been the first Pokémon to ever actually pick a fight with his father. The rest had all claimed something about demonic powers that would let him always win, yet… Kevin could see, even at the age of five, that his dad was having trouble fighting off just one of them.

That was right, Uncle Nick was the better battler. But his dad couldn’t lose. What would happen then?

Cory’s signature move of sorts, Aerial Ace, was countered quickly by the Swellow’s own version of the move. Cory was pushed back a little, fatigue starting to set in. This wasn’t right… No… Kevin’s dad told him that he beat a Rhydon…

As the Swellow swooped in for the final blow, Cory unleashed a Flamethrower. Kevin stared at it transfixed; he’d only ever seen a Flamethrower on their lousy little television before. But the way the flames looked when he saw it for real was amazing.

The attack was too much for the Swellow to bear. Of course, that made sense; his father was actually pretty physically weak looking, now that he thought about it, so his special moves worked better. But if a Flamethrower was that powerful, why didn’t he just use it before?

Before Kevin could wonder any more, however, he’d already been scooped up and carried off towards their little nook hidden deep in the western portion of the woods. He glanced up to see his dad’s face, which smiled back at him. The flesh around the smile was charred, though.

“It gives me a sore throat when I do that,” whispered Cory. “That’s why I never—”

Cory began to glow, startling him enough to almost drop Kevin. “Damn it, the everstone’s back at home…”

Kevin’s eyes widened. “Dad?”

Cory swore as he started to evolve. “Why do I have to evolve _now_?” He quickly lowered Kevin to the ground.

“But you said evolving is good, right?” Kevin said, watching his father with concern.

“Not for me, it’s going to—” Cory muttered, his voice sounding croaky.

“But…” Kevin trailed off. His father grabbed his glasses off his face, and Kevin could see why; They’d begun to melt at the ends from the fire that had erupted out of Cory’s head. The bright light from the evolution began to clear away to reveal his father’s new form, which was kind of scary.

He’d seen an Infernape before, one called Inneo. He’d come to Petalburg Woods to find Kevin’s mother, who had run away from their clan. Kevin couldn’t remember that well, but he was pretty sure that Inneo was the one who first called his father a demon.

His father looked nothing like Inneo, though. Cory was at least a foot taller than the Infernape he’d seen before, maybe even two… And that wasn’t even counting the fact that Inneo was hunched over. No, the Infernape that Kevin was looking at was lanky and bony, with dull eyes and misshapen looking armour.

Cory just looked wrong.

Kevin walked over to his father. “Dad?”

“I bet I look terrible,” he managed to choke out. “I feel sick.”

“Should I call mom?”

“No, I’m not dying,” Cory answered. “At least, I don’t think I am. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

Don’t worry.

Don’t worry, even though in a few days, his father would be long gone and he’d never see him again.

*

Kevin absolutely despised himself whenever he had that dream.

When he woke up the next morning, Kevin tried to forget what he’d relived during the night. He really doubted that it was an accurate memory, of course, seeing as his father was so heroic and amazing in it. Kevin just couldn’t believe that someone like fake-dream Cory would go and leave his wife and kids like that. The memory had probably been skewed from his more idealistic days as a small child.

The imagery was accurate, though. His father was a very uncanny version of an Infernape that was very hard to forget. He’d figured out why a little later, once he’d gotten a bit smarter, but seeing his father like that again almost made him cringe.

“But Mom still loved you, regardless. She didn’t care,” Kevin barely noticed that he was talking aloud.

He surveyed his surroundings from the tree that he’d chosen to spend the night on. He could see what he deduced to be Hearthome City only a ten minute walk away, along with a couple of paths branching off from it into the distance. He grimaced; that meant that if he’d missed Lana and the team, he’d have to ask around to see which way they went.

Kevin smoothly climbed down the tree. He didn’t really know if Kari would know the location of the Shades’ hideout or if she’d even give it to him, but he didn’t know what else to do. Surely it’d be suspicious if he started asking around, right? He didn’t want to get himself caught by the Shades.

Suddenly, Kevin remembered how the Bidoof-part-two had been some sort of Shades fanboy. If only he’d asked him before he’d run off…

Kevin wished his hindsight were his foresight sometimes.

The well-worn path underneath his feet quickly led Kevin to Hearthome, but once he got there, he felt pretty lost. The city seemed to love signs with words only, leaving Kevin to make his best guesses as to what everything was. Thankfully, he at least knew what a gym from this region looked like, so he found that soon enough. When he tried the doors, though, they were locked. There was a note taped to them, but he had no idea what it said.

There was a weird laugh from behind him, making Kevin turn around. A female Yanma was giggling at him, her wings transparent-looking from beating so fast.

“The gym’s closed. It says so right there,” She smirked. Or, at least, it sounded like she smirked, but it was hard to tell with a Yanma. She cocked her head. “Oh, wait, weren’t you that Monferno that girl had?”

Kevin blinked. “So you’re the Yanma that guy had?”

“I guess that means yes. Um, yeah, my trainer’s just giving us some air,” She glanced over to a bench across the street, where Henry was playing a Gameboy or something with his Pokémon nearby. Kevin wasn’t sure what it was; it had two screens.

“Oh… Hey, have you seen Lana?” Kevin asked quickly before she darted back to her group.

“Your trainer? What, you lost her or something? I’ll go ask Henry.” She flew over to the kid, and yeesh, she was fast. It wasn’t even five seconds before she zoomed right back.

“He says he hasn’t seen her since Eterna. Sorry.” She looked about as sympathetic as a giant red dragonfly could look. “I hope you find her!” And that was it. She took off back towards her trainer.

He sighed. He figured he could at least figure out which gym was next, though, so he followed the Yanma over to the group of hopeful league-winners.

Aside from the Yanma and that Iffy guy, there was also a Haunter. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to anyone though, just floating, suspended in midair with only his shadowy hand anchoring him to the bench. Henry looked up from his double-screen Gameboy and raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with an air of not caring in the least.

“I’m kind of looking for Lana, so… Do you know where the next gym is? Since this one’s closed, I mean,” Kevin asked with as much politeness as he could stand. This kid was annoying.

“East,” he grunted.

“Can’t you just point in the direction or something?” Kevin asked. He was getting tired of answers like that.

He pointed straight out in front of him before returning his hand to the A button. Kevin muttered a dry thanks and started heading in the direction he’d been shown. After several minutes of walking, however, Kevin was met with a dead end.

“Craptacular,” he drawled before deciding that he’d just wander around to try and find the Pokémon Center. Kevin remembered that when he’d seen the city from the tree before, based on the position of the Pokémon Center, he’d just have to go right, then up, then right, then up, and then he’d be out.

Except it wasn’t like he was playing a video game. Kevin sighed. Wasn’t there someone friendlier that he could ask?

It wasn’t the mindless wandering that bothered him. He’d done that a lot while he explored Hoenn. He was just starting to get pretty homesick, especially so since he was getting hungry again. At this point even nomel berries would be good, and those things destroyed your taste buds for three whole _days_.

And… as much as Kevin hated to admit it, he really liked being able to talk to other people while he walked. Of course, he didn’t like the fact that ninety percent of the time the person he was talking to insulted him, but that was normal enough. He’d grown up being called a demon child, after all. Being called stupid or moron was nothing.

Okay, okay. Maybe he kind of _liked_ being on a trainer’s team. It wasn’t nearly as bad as some forest inhabitants had made it out to be, and in the end… Well, after he got all this Shades business sorted out, he’d probably stick with Lana and enter the Pokémon League. He’d always liked to watch it on TV. Actually participating would be awesome.

Somehow during his wandering and wondering, Kevin had made it to the Pokémon Center. Maybe there was a map inside or something? At any rate, he figured that it couldn’t hurt.

When he stepped inside he saw Henry and company again. He paid them no mind, instead focusing on the walls to try and spot the thing that would tell him where to go next. The ones in Hoenn had little badge pictures on the cities to show which one you were supposed to go to next, and he hoped that Sinnoh did too. Pleasantly, they did, but Kevin was met with another predicament.

Both paths out of the city lead to gyms.

Kevin cursed. He didn’t know which one was technically the next after Hearthome’s gym, but judging by the length of the routes, he assumed that the southern path was the one that trainers were intended to use. After all, who’d waste all that time to take the long way to the diamond-shaped badge’s town? No, the blue circle badge was definitely closer.

So, that was that. Lana most likely went to get the blue circle badge, and Kari was with her. And once he got Kari to spill the location of the Shades’ base, he’d go and confront them and hopefully not wind up in a terrible situation. And after that, he’d participate in the Sinnoh League and then go home. Heh, Kyle was going to be jealous for sure.

He grinned. Awesome.


	12. Chapter 12

Route 212 was a pleasant walk, and just as ritzy as Hearthome City was. The path was clearly laid out for travellers, having well-maintained hedges and other plants somehow still alive along the borders of the road. The whole route probably belonged to the same guy who owned the enormous mansion that branched out from the path, seeing as about half of the route was the equally gigantic garden in the mansion’s backyard. That wasn’t even counting all the people with expensive clothing and Luxury Balls out for a stroll.

The upper-classiness of the route made Kevin wonder why it wasn’t just classified as part of Hearthome City, but for all he knew the mansion was only built a year or two ago. (It certainly looked new, but then again the owner could probably afford enough maintenance staff to ensure it stayed that way.) However old it was, though, it was probably an awesome place to live. Y’know, as a rich human.

The only thing that was bugging him was the route’s name. Unless he was mistaken, he’d gone from Route 206 to 207, then to 208 earlier, which logically meant that the next route was 209. The wild Pokémon of the area assured him that he was on Route 212, though, so…

He shook his head. Hoenn numbered its routes weirdly, too. If he remembered correctly, one could easily reach Route 115 after Rustboro City, which came after Route 104. Whatever the routes were numbered, in the end, it still made the most sense to go to the closest gym.

By the time Kevin got to the end of the route, the sun was beginning to set. Despite feeling fatigued and hungry for the fiftieth time since he left the team, he decided to press on. The sooner he caught up to them the better, lest he want to starve to death in the land of craziness and no fruit.

What did everyone else here eat anyway? Rocks? Plenty of _those_ to go around…

He stopped. The air around him suddenly felt much cooler and… wet. A quick glance up assured him of his fears – the clouds overhead were a deep, deep gray and about to spill a lake’s worth of water any second. Not even snow. Great. Just great. It was going to rain on the one Monferno who couldn’t take a wet tail.

If there was any time to wish he were normal, it was now. Oh yeah, purebred members of the Monferno family didn’t have anything to fear from getting their tails wet, save for an unpleasant sick feeling. But thanks to _dear old dad_ , Kevin’s tail was more akin to a Charmander’s.

…Okay, he wouldn’t _die_ , but being in a coma or whatever until he was perfectly dry again? Not a good idea.

Kevin quickly looked around for some sort of shelter. Unfortunately, aside from inadequate foliage, there was nothing. Of course. Sinnoh was cold, and it was the middle of fall. The trees didn’t have any fruit or leaves and weren’t going to get any until spring.

Seriously, how did anyone live here? Aside from the rich mansion guy, obviously.

Wait… The mansion! Wait, no, people apparently thought he was the Shade, which may or may not be a good thing. Too risky. Kevin’s eyes darted around, looking for some form of salvation from the storm to come.

Thunder roared. Damn it, he’d just have to outrun the rain, if that was even possible. He darted through the forest area, realizing that the ground was soggy. So… it rained here a lot? But the ground in the first part of the route was dry. Ugh, Kevin hadn’t been this confused since he went to Fortree a couple months ago.

He laughed a bit at the memory. Route 118 was perfectly sunny and sandy, but as soon as he stepped into Route 119, lightning flashed and he was drenched in seconds. Luckily, there was plenty of shelter available there and he was able to travel through without getting any soggier, but he’d never tried going through perpetually rainy routes since.

As Kevin ran through the marsh, however, he became increasingly desperate. Rain was starting to fall now; creating puddles immediately since the ground was already so damp. The flame on his tail protested, stinging with each drop it got hit with. Kevin cursed, holding it close to his body in an attempt to shield it.

He rounded a corner and cursed again. The next portion of the route was merely a couple of bridges across a very high river. The river was flowing rapidly, water sloshing up and over the edges of the bridges and almost submerging them altogether. Kevin sighed, gripped his tail tightly, and bolted across.

Running on slippery wood was not such a good idea, though. Kevin soon tripped in yet another puddle and grunted. He got up as fast as he could and continued to walk quickly without falling a second time. He repeatedly swore under his breath, cursing Kyogre for lack of anyone better.

After getting about halfway across the river, when he stepped onto the second bridge, Kevin saw a house. It wasn’t majestic like the mansion from before, actually being on the quaint side, but he didn’t care. At this point, he couldn’t afford to be picky. He scrambled across the second bridge, barely managing to keep his balance before reaching the house and yanking the door open. Stumbling inside, Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.

As it turned out, however, the house was already occupied. There was a man in what looked like fishing gear playing solitaire or something at a cheap wooden table. He eyed Kevin before turning back to his game.

“Um…” started Kevin. “Is it— Is it possible that I can stay here until the rain clears up?”

“No,” grunted the man.

“ _Okay_ …” Kevin said. Crazylanders seemed to be rude by nature.

He spared Kevin a quick glance. “It barely ever clears up around here. The next clear day is probably in a month or so.”

“Wha- but I swear it didn’t start raining until I showed up!” Kevin exclaimed.

“Trainers,” grunted the man, “using Sunny Day because they can’t stand a little rain,”

Kevin bit his lip. “’Kay, what if I just stay here until the rain gets lighter?”

“Seven hours,” replied the man.

“Eh?”

“The thunder will stop in seven hours,” he clarified. Okay, he could deal with that.

He nodded to the man and sat down on the floor. He didn’t know what he was going to do for seven hours, but he’d gone longer with nothing to do before. No biggie. It’d be nice if he could use Sunny Day, though.

Wait, could he? Kevin frowned, trying to remember if his father had ever used it before. Somebody had used Sunny Day on his mom’s birthday a long time ago, he knew that. Kyle was still a baby…

Oh, right. That was Uncle Nick. His dad sucked at using fire moves.

He sighed. Even if he did know Sunny Day, it wasn’t like he would remember how. Yeah, to little kids, non-damaging moves were always considered “useless,” and Kevin was no exception. Whatever. Even if he didn’t have Nick’s techniques—

Damn it! How the hell did he forget about _that_?

Kevin stood up. The fisherman barely paid him any attention as he opened and walked out the door, but that didn’t matter. That guy was as sour as aspear and nomel berries combined. Kevin took a deep breath and stuck the end of his tail in his mouth. Not exactly a perfect method, but it worked.

Uncle Nick had used the technique so that he was able to go swimming. For a reason that neither Kevin nor the rest of his family could fathom, Nick loved water almost as much as he loved his wife. Biting it was a weird way of keeping his tail dry, but what other way was there, really? Unless he felt like putting a plastic bag on it…   

So, with his tail safe between his teeth, Kevin ran as quickly as he could through the last part of the route. He still wasn’t going very fast, what with all the puddles threatening to make him slip in the way, but at least he could actually make some progress this way. Finally, he got across all the bridges, only to discover that there was a giant swamp covering the last several feet of route. _Fantastic_.

Kevin spotted a few trees somehow growing in the mucky earth and decided that it’d be easiest to use them to get across. Why the landowner didn’t pay the bridge guys to make _one more bridge_ over the swamp, he didn’t know, and frankly, he didn’t care. At this point, all Kevin could think of was being somewhere dry.

After a few hazardous leaps from tree to tree, Kevin finally made it into the city’s border. There was a sign announcing the name of the city (not that he could read it) along with several buildings and other city stuff. It was pretty average, although Kevin was kind of surprised that a settlement this large didn’t have paved roads.

His stomach growled with dissatisfaction. It was probably in his best interest to find Lana fast so that he could eat, since he didn’t trust himself to persuade yet another cashier to let him have some food for free. Sighing, Kevin dragged himself along the grassy roads, looking for a building that vaguely resembled Eterna City’s Pokémon Gym. That’s where Lana would be, right? Or would she be staying at the Pokémon Center by now?

As Kevin rounded the corner, he was met with a sign advertising burgers and fries. He frowned. Even meat, despite his instinct, sounded appetizing at the moment. Upon observation, the building the sign went to wasn’t a shop, but rather an arcade of some sort. He smiled weakly. He’d always wanted to go to one as a child.

Kevin stopped. Maybe he could just take a peek? Hell, for all he knew, Lana could be in there. And it was more likely that even if Lana wasn’t there, some other sympathetic person was, and that meant he’d get to eat.

With a grin, Kevin stepped through the automatic doors of the arcade. He was met with a blur of light and sound, all competing for his attention with as many seizure-inducing flashes and noises as they could possibly make. Naturally, with all the distractions, nobody really seemed to notice him as he snuck past the token-buying queue into the main section of the arcade.

The sight was reminiscent of a commercial or two he recalled when watching TV. There was the familiar section of token and ticket spewing games ranging from pseudo-basketball to “Whacka-Diglett”, yet among the familiar activities there seemed to be an electronic game or two that took quarters instead. He approached one intrigued; video games always looked cool on the TV, but finally seeing one in person was something else altogether.

He didn’t really know what he was expecting when he looked at the screen, but this was ridiculous. On the left was a standard game booth, grungy eighties graphics and all. The one on the right, however, looked like it was brand-spanking new, and… mind-blowing, really. The three dimensional models were certainly much better looking than the graphics of the games Kevin had seen advertised – probably by ten-fold. And that was saying something; while the graphics on the left were barely-animated ghosts and yellow sphere-headed blobby things, the right one was rendering people beating each other up. With _blood_.  _Realistically_. And even the background was 3D!

Kevin stared in shock. Either the company that made the game was keeping their talents secret from everyone else, or Sinnoh was just that high technical.

He _reeeaaally_ wished he had a quarter right now.

With a sigh, he turned to exit the arcade. He vowed that someday, he’d get a chance to at least try a video game, regardless of if he could actually beat it or not. It was just like battling, right? You just needed to figure out a strategy, and then everything else would be a cinch. He emerged outside where, thankfully, the rain had let up.

Kevin was about to turn to walk away when, in the corner of his eye, he thought he spotted a girl with black hair and a shirt with a suspiciously familiar smiling heart on it.


	13. Chapter 13

“H-hey! Uh, Lana!” Kevin shouted to the girl. Upon hearing her name being called, she turned around in surprise toward the unrecognized voice and spotted him. Her eyes lit up.

“Slickky!” she shouted, running towards him. She had Mist the Buizel in her arms for some reason. “There you are! We went looking for you but we couldn’t find you. I’m glad you’re all right!”

Kevin blinked in confusion. “Slickky? The heck?”

Mist explained curtly. “It’s apparently a habit of hers to do that. Be glad that you aren’t ‘Stylie’.”

“Ah… ‘kay. Um, look, I only left to cool off, I didn’t mean to—”

“Yeah, we figured as much, but Kari stomped off too, so we had to look for the both of you, and we only found her, so…” Lana shook her head. “She’s still really angry at you, though.”

Kevin folded his arms. Something told him that Kari was likely to hold her grudge against him forever unless he apologized. He really, really hated doing that, but it was necessary to get the information he needed, right? Desperate times called for desperate measures, so with a glance at Lana, he spoke.

“Do you… Uh, do you think I could talk to her in private?” Why did this sound so stupid?

It was Lana’s turn to blink in confusion. “Well… I guess.” She fumbled with her Pokéball belt before tossing Kari’s Pokéball to the ground, releasing her in a flash of white light. The Turtwig took one look at Kevin and glared.

“Oh, you’re back. Are you supposed to be a sight for sore eyes?” Normally, Kevin would mock her unintended pun, but as hasty as he was, he’d rather get this over with. Dragging her several feet away and ignoring her surprisingly vulgar protests, he glared back.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Oh, are you now? Did Lana tell you to say that?” Kari’s disgusted tone was getting really annoying.

“No. Look, I get what you said before. About everything being obvious and everything. You… I guess you had it rough with the Shades in the past, right?” Kari looked genuinely surprised at his deduction. She glanced around, kicking the grass a bit before replying.

“Rough? He _used_ me. Led me on to believe that he’d help me. And then what did he do? After… After everything I’d done for him…” Kari suppressed a sniffle. “I’m half blind and forced to take part in a stupid sport I can’t stand. Sure, I could run, or demand to be released, but where would that get me? I can’t live in the wild; I’m a starter that was specially bred to be domestic! That shady little… _liar_ absolutely ruined my life while I made his perfect, and he has the nerve to wear that sweater too? It’s much more than rough, Kevin, it’s hell.”

Kevin said nothing. He didn’t know what to say; although his experience with life was far from perfect, Kari’s sounded much, much more tragic than his could ever hope to be.

She cried for a minute, then got a hold of herself and looked up to him again. “I apologize for being rude to you, Kevin. It’s just that… The fact that he was looking for you is the reason I met him. Well, that, and the two of you are so similar.”

“What?” Kevin didn’t really enjoy being compared to a sadistic torturer, thank you very much.

She smiled half-heartedly. “’How can you help me get out of this crazy place?’ He said the exact same thing to me when I met him.”

Frowning, he crossed his arms again. “So he didn’t like Sinnoh either?”

A chuckle. “He promised to take me back to Hoenn with him at one point. Wanted me to taste apples instead of that kibble stuff we were fed.”

“You don’t say.” Kari was kinda getting creepy again. Did she just imply that “Mr. Shade” wanted to take her out on a date or something? The fact that she mentioned apples made him picture his little brother going out with her, which was wrong on _so_ _many_ levels. “Um, Kari, can I ask you something?”

“Hm?” she answered, seemingly lost in thought. _Eww_ …

“Uh… how’d you know my name? Like, my full name and everything?” She raised an eyebrow.

“He said it at some point in passing. It wasn’t that hard to remember, what with the last name and all,” She scrunched up her face in thought. “It was something like… oh yeah. ‘When I get out of here, I am seriously going to kill Kevin Nicholas Holly if it’s the last thing I do.’” She smiled.

Yeesh, maybe the sadism rubbed off on her. “Heh… Can I ask you something else?”

“Go ahead,” she said in an uncharacteristically sweet tone. Somehow, that was even worse than her disgusted one.

“Where’s the Shades’ headquarters? Or home base, or whatever it’s called.” Kevin was determined to see Mr. Shade in person now, even though he didn’t really know why. Maybe he just didn’t want to go down without a fight. Or maybe his hero complex was kicking in now that he realized that Mr. Shade was cruel enough to make a reptile fall for him and then basically gave her the finger once she’d served her purpose. Whatever the reason, Kevin wasn’t going to let him win.

Kari sighed. “I think it’s up in the Battle Frontier. After all, that’s the most tropical place in Sinnoh,” She narrowed her eyes. “I heard that strong trainers are given ferry tickets to go there, but it’s pretty much invitation only.”

Kevin made a face. “Kinda cowardly, isn’t it?”

Bitterly, she nodded. “It’s also stupid. If anyone can manage to catch him again now, it’d be one of those strong trainers. Hiding from Professor Rowan… No wonder it was _my_ escape plan that got him out.”

“Huh? He was a starter with you?” Kevin asked.

The Turtwig nodded redundantly. “… _Yeah_ , that’s how we met,” Kari turned to look at Lana and Mist, who were absent-mindedly chatting. “Well anyway, does this mean you’re going to work with me now?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kevin replied.

“Good, because you’re easily the strongest member of Lana’s team. If we’re going to get to the Battle Frontier anytime soon, then that means we’ll have to toughen up enough to get a ticket.” Her eyes narrowed with determination, much like Kevin’s had.

“So, you want me to help you get stronger?” He leaned to the side, weighing his thoughts. “I’m not an expert—”

“But you’re the best we’ve got, Kevin. You’re all we’ve got. Please, I’ll find a way to repay you!” Kari looked like she was in some desperate times, too.

“All right, all right! Just… Don’t call me Kevin. The last thing I want is for the Shades to find _me_.” She grinned sheepishly, an expression that clashed horribly with Kevin’s brain. _The turtle of sorrows should not be able to grin like that_.

*

For the most part, Kevin was satisfied with his and Kari’s conversation. There were still a few things that addled him (she seriously fell in love with the Shade gross gross _gross_ ), but he’d gained sufficient knowledge about the Shade and his past. The new problem of getting to the Battle Frontier was moderately easy to solve, provided that some serious grinding was going to take place. Hey, there was a show on TV about someone getting to the league in a week, and they had two months. No sweat, right?

The initial shock of friendly Kari had mostly worn off too; although the way she was treating him in particular was still unnerving. Kevin figured that Kari still admired her old “friend” to the point that his and Kevin’s apparent similarities were screwing up her brain’s judgement. (He could have sworn she’d almost called him “dear”. _What_.)

The two had proposed their training idea to Lana, who happily agreed. Although Kevin’s preferred method was getting everyone up to league strength and then sweeping through the remaining gyms in a couple weeks, they’d eventually agreed on the less tiring option: Heading over to the third gym (which apparently wasn’t in Hearthome or the city they were in now), training up a bit, and taking the gyms one step at a time.

It became clear to Kevin once they’d started training that nobody really knew how to battle properly. Kari was defensive by nature, but at the same time wasn’t; she couldn’t take physical attacks well at all despite being able to pop into her shell at any given time. Styler was all right, but he definitely lacked the experience that Kevin had, and being a flying type he had a lot of disadvantages. Mist was well-rounded but didn’t have the best attacks. As for Nini and Cheri… they just kind of sucked.

He concluded that if they were going to get any better, they’d have to evolve. Other than Nini declaring that it was impossible without her true love and Kari’s oh-that’s-great-uh-no-thanks-buddy face, the team seemed to be okay with it. Personally, Kevin didn’t want to evolve again out of fear of ending up as uncanny as his father was – something both he and his little brother had mutually agreed on while growing up.

Although he’d also heard stories of league-winners using all sorts of unevolved Pokémon, those teams were made with years and years of training, and there was no way there was time for that. He pulled Kari aside again for a moment to try and convince her of his point.

“Have you ever seen a Grotle? They’re horrible looking, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t bat an eye about looks otherwise,” Kari seethed, quite offended by even the suggestion of evolving.

“You just feel that way because you’ve been a Turtwig so long. What about your final evolution?” Kevin retaliated.

“And never run again? No thank you. And don’t be a hypocrite, Kevin, I know you’re not going to be an Infernape even if someone pointed a gun to your head.” This surprised him.

“You get that all from your shady friend?” he accused.

“More or less. My point still stands.” She huffed.

He sighed angrily. “Yeah, but I evolved at least once. Plus, my grandma beat a league as a Monferno.” He paused before continuing. “You know, evolving again may actually hinder me, judging by my dad’s evolution…”

“ _Fine_. I’ll evolve, but only because there’s a chance my eye may be healed in the process. Y’know, new cells and all that.” There was a moment of silence. “Though I really doubt it. You’d better pay me for this, you know.” She glared.

He laughed. “How about I take you to Hoenn and give you some apples?” She scoffed.

“I’ll pass on that,” she replied.

Funny how Kevin had somehow made his first non-family friend with someone who he first decided was his worst enemy. Still, friend wasn’t really the right word. Maybe a comrade or an acquaintance.

Even then, though, it still felt like she thought he was an entirely different person than he really was. He wondered what sort of façade the Shade had to put on to make someone like Kari like him… and remember him fondly even after everything he’d done.


	14. Chapter 14

Much like the last couple of days, Halloween was spent continuing to train. The wild Pokémon in the area had pretty much figured out that if they tried to battle with Kevin or the rest of his team, they’d be knocked out sooner or later. This meant that the team either had to find a new area or battle against each other instead. Kevin preferred the former rather than the latter.

Kari had finally grudgingly evolved, too. True to her word, Grotle as a species was not something very nice to look at. The golden armour covering most of her back combined with the random bushes just made for a very odd combination. Of course, that was all Kevin’s opinion, but judging by the glances Kari kept getting, his thinking was probably mainstream.

 He didn’t know what the water type starter looked like in Sinnoh, but if Lana considered Grotle to be cute (and she seemed to be an expert on cute things), there had to be something in the water she was drinking. Even if she didn’t know what Grotle looked like, Turtwig wasn’t exactly adorable either. He felt the slightest bit sorry for her.

With nothing better to do, Kevin wandered over to the newly evolved turtle and greeted her before getting to the point that was starting to bug him. “Do you know why Lana picked you?”

“I’m a female,” replied Kari. “That apparently meant that we were a great match.”

“Huh,” said Kevin.

“Yep. Twenty-four years of biting and growling and one kid still finds a reason to choose me. Not the adorable little Piplup beside me, he’s an icky boy, and besides, her cousin got that one already. Honestly, I think you’re going to be the closest I get to understanding humans.” Kari finished her rant by closing her eyes, the blind one unhealed from evolution, and sighing.

Kevin was quiet. “You know about that, too?” he half whispered. So Mr. Shade had found out the truth? Kevin wanted to know how he managed that, it being kind of a secret and everything.

“A little. He didn’t talk about it very much, just once at the beginning and an allusion here or there,” Catching his expression, Kari added, “Look, I don’t care what you are. I don’t care that you’re related to _him_ , either. I won’t tell a soul.”

“Uh… what?”

“What, you want everyone to know that you’re—”

“No!” Kevin quickly silenced her. “Uh, never mind, I just thought… nothing,” He turned on the spot and hurriedly walked away before she could say anything else.

The Shade was a relative? But… that didn’t make any sense. Unless his dad had gone crazy or something, but that couldn’t be true, Cory was an Infernape and the Shade was a Monferno. Seriously, it’d be hard _not_ to recognize Cory if he was the Shade. So who else would that leave? Uncle Nick passed away…

Oh yeah. He had another uncle, on his mother’s side, from the _other_ Crazyland. The one from the clan who started the whole demon thing and stuff. Well damn, Kevin never would’ve thought that he would be so persistent for so long. Then again, if their obsessive traditions had anything to say, he probably felt the need to be rid of any “demon offspring” or some junk like that.

So dear old Uncle Mono was (most likely) personally trying to kill his little sister’s demon son just so that the pure bloodline wouldn’t be contaminated. Couldn’t he just be happy with his own family living their perfect little traditional life up on Mount Chimney? Damn it.

Seeing as the Shades were a group, he probably had Inneo the wonderful, official demon-hunting hero on his side too. Other clan members were likely as well. Okay, now he was just looking forward to getting to the Battle Frontier and teaching the Shades a lesson. He really hoped the team would be good enough by the end of the year to get ferry tickets.

Kevin grinned for his small triumph. He knew who the Shade was and knew about all the personal beef he had, so all he needed to do was get there to take him on. Sweet.

A rustle from behind alerted him to a spying Raichu situated in surprisingly well-camouflaging shrubs. Upon seeing that he had been noticed, the Raichu flashed a grin of his own, his extremely white and pointy teeth glinting in the sunlight.

 _“Good morning. Sorry if I snuck up on you,”_ the Raichu said.

Kevin blinked; he hadn’t heard a Pokémon speak… well, _Pokémon_ , since he’d been captured. _“Uh… hey,”_ he replied, unused to speech he’d used only a little over a week ago. _“Who are you?”_

 _“Just a passing citizen wondering where all the wildlife went. Going by your training methods, I’d say you’ve scared them all off,”_ His smile turned into a frown. _“Tell me boy, do you like being trained?”_

What kind of question was that? Even if he’d admitted it to himself earlier… _“I like getting stronger. My trainer isn’t really all that skilled… I’m kind of training her instead, I guess,”_ he replied.

 _“Mmm. So you’re not interested in becoming a Naturalist, then?”_ The Raichu narrowed his large eyes. “ _Hey, you look a little bit like… Heh, Shady. You’re the one he’s looking for, right? So then why do you want to fight him?”_

 _“Uh… He wants to kill me?”_ Kevin tried. This guy was a Naturalist? Kevin didn’t really think talking to Naturalists was that important right now, but whatever. _“You know him?”_

The Raichu scoffed exaggeratedly, making his unusual ears bobble a bit. _“Yeah, I know him. He really wants to kill you now? Funny, he told me he doesn’t do things like that.”_ He paused, then as an afterthought, added, _“He really is a buzzkill sometimes.”_

 _“Yeah, well, I guess I’m special,”_ Kevin said bitterly. Apparently everyone in Crazyland was sadistic, not just Kari.

He managed a smile. _“Hmm. Well, if you ever feel like joining us Naturalists, just say the word, boy. We’re one hundred percent against Shady’s idea of a perfect world, just so you know.”_ He turned to run off into the woods. _“Name’s Chuno!”_ he called back before he disappeared on all fours.

“Ehh…” mumbled Kevin. One hundred percent against the Shades, huh? If Kevin’s mother had told him anything, Uncle Mono’s “perfect world” would have him and a select few others atop a monarchy with everyone else obeying his every whim. In short, like the Hoenn clan, but bigger. Maybe he should’ve asked the Naturalists to help him out or something.

Well, whatever. All he had to do was say the word, right? Chuno or whatever his name was seemed affable, if you ignored his implied… er… favour of people getting killed.

…On second thought, it was probably smarter to just stay the hell away from the Raichu. Kevin was about to head back to the group to train again when Kari plodded up to him.

“Did he just say his name was Chuno?” she inquired with a puzzled look on her face. “But he can’t be a Naturalist, he’s a Shade!”

“Huh?” Kevin said. Great, more confusing stuff.

She shook her head. “Honestly, way to pick your members.” When Kari saw Kevin’s face, she tried to explain further. “Oh… Well, there’s a stupid rumour that the Shades are murderers and want to kill people. I guess you found out what happened to the one that really was.”

“But the Shade wants to kill me, too,” Kevin said, still confused.

She laughed. “Ha! Maybe you, but nobody else is going to get hurt. He probably couldn’t stand the blood…” Trailing off, Kari shuddered.

Whatever disturbing thought she was thinking, Kevin didn’t want to know. “Well… Okay then. So Chuno is an ex-Shade and formed his own group against them?” he asked.

“Looks like. I can’t tell you the details; all I ever heard was whatever Rowan happened to have loud enough on his TV,” Kari suddenly became cheery. “Well, are we ready to take on the gym yet or what? Lana says that Veilstone’s only twenty minutes away,”

Kevin nodded, folding his arms. “Probably. Mist looks like she might evolve soon and there’s nothing we can really do with Nini or Cheri, so all we really need to do now is strategize. What type is the gym?”

“Fighting, I think,” Kari replied.

“All right. Styler’s in, then. You suck at defense, so you’re out. I guess that leaves me and Mist,” Kevin mused, glancing overhead to see the gray, but still fluffy, cloudy sky.

She huffed. “You say that like all I’m going to do is sit there and take hits.”

“Well, that’s how it works, right? There’s no way you’re a sweeper, at least not a good one, not with your speed. I guess you could stand in one place and fire Razor Leaves or something, but then you’re an open target and anyone smart enough will be able to take you out in a hit or two, so—”

“You know all of this and never had a trainer before?” Kari cut in, barely taking in anything he’d said.

Kevin sighed. “It’s not hard!” he said exasperatedly, “All I did was watch the Pokémon League when I was little! Half of the strategies I saw came from little kids just like Lana! ‘Course, they weren’t usually the good ones, but it’s so easy it’s not even funny.” He half-glared at nothing in particular.

“You sure that it’s not just humans that find it that easy?” Kari asked quietly.

Kevin’s half-glare turned into a full one directed at Kari. “If that were true, then every kid and their mom would have captured _all of us_ easily. The humans just turned our survival instincts into a sport years and years ago. There’s nothing we can do about the past, sure, but there’s no reason we can’t be good at the sport ourselves. If anything, we should be even better, since we actually know how attacks work. I know what I’m doing, and it’s because I’m good at battling. _No other reason_.”

Kari seemed to be biting her lip. “Yeah, but Kevin, you’re different than ‘all of us’, you know. Don’t you think that the differences are both physical _and_ mental?”

“I _know_ I’m different! I don’t freaking care! I don’t care if I’m a demon child or a freak of nature or what, because it shouldn’t matter! Why is it that every single person that looks at me thinks that I’m something wrong?” he shouted. “Kyle never got that! He was fuzzy and adorable just ‘cause he had mom’s _normal_ face! So yeah, maybe I think a bit _differently_ , Kari. _That doesn’t freaking mean that it’s wrong_. Arceus.”

He knew he exploded. He knew that somewhere along his rant, he’d completely burst into flames. He hardly heard the Grotle facing him as she spoke, and frankly, he didn’t care about any of those things either. Hell, he didn’t give a damn about anything at the moment; his mind was spinning, full of all the times he remembered being called different – and it was overflowing.

It was only when Kari yelled even louder that he heard her. “I KNOW! I KNOW YOU KNOW THAT YOU’RE DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PEOPLE! WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW IS THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“NOT EVERYONE DOES THE SAME THING THAT YOU WOULD DO, KEVIN!” She growled, lowering her volume. “You think you know everything about the world and that you’re smarter than everyone else, right? You think you don’t need help because you’ve gotten this far without it. Wrong! Not everyone sees the situation you’re in as something like, ‘Hey, if I just act cool and trick people to get the information I need, I’ll be on my merry way and be just fine!’ You think that you’re normal aside from your appearance, but you’re not. Underneath you’re human through and through, not a Pokémon, and you need to understand that!” Kari breathed heavily, her face contorted into one of outrage.

Kevin stared at her. Kari took a deep breath to continue.

“The only reason you and your father were ever called demons is because you acted so alien to the other Pokémon. It had nothing to do with your looks. Your mannerisms and habits are all human, and instinctively, that makes Pokémon shy away from you. Kyle didn’t get called a demon because he tried to act like a Pokémon and kept a lot of his thoughts to himself, even if he didn’t want to. Face it, Kevin, you’re one quarter human, and you’re going to have to _deal with that_.”

He was speechless. There was nothing to say. No one, not even his parents, had ever directly told him that he was part human before. Cory had come close once, but he’d stopped short…

He remembered an old photo. His grandparents. A Monferno and her trainer. And no explanation otherwise.

He’d pretty much put two and two together after that. Kyle figured it out too, and they talked about it occasionally, but to have someone he only met a week ago up and explain to him exactly why he’d been treated the way he had for his entire life just struck a chord with him.

Then he noticed something.

“Why do you act human, too?” he coolly and quietly asked, watching Kari’s eyes widen slightly in surprise.

She took a moment before answering, face turned towards the grass on the ground. “I honestly wish I could figure myself out the same way I understood the both of you. The only theory I have is that I’m a defective specimen and grew up with an uncanny knack to analyze things. I don’t have any human mannerisms to the same extent that you do, but my logical path of thought makes me seem more like you than I actually am.”

Kevin nodded. “Okay... Okay. Let’s go train.”

And without another word, he walked away, a little more quietly than usual.


	15. Chapter 15

“Well, here we are, Veilstone Gym. Are you sure that you know what you’re doing, Slickky?”

Lana was nervously twirling a lock of her dark hair around her fingers. Her face was contorted into a frown; she obviously wasn’t confident enough for Kevin’s liking, but it would have to do. They had two months and two months only, so they had to get good, fast.

He nodded, narrowing his eyes. “Lana, all you need to do is use the strategy I made up and it’ll be fine. Really, so long as everything you’ve told me about this gym was correct, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Lana made some sort of noise that was a cross between a whimper and a yell. “But what if the leader notices that you’re doing everything like last time?”

“I told you already, if you’re ever lost, just say something like ‘Attack Strategy One’ and we’ll fix it, okay?” Kevin sighed. This was getting tiring. For some reason, Lana was getting borderline hysterical and Kevin did not want to have to deal with her.

“But then what if you faint?” she whined.

“Use a revive or something, I don’t know, just stop it already!” Kevin gave her a dark look and yanked open the gym door himself. Inside were a couple of junior trainers (who weren’t all that junior-looking, they were buff as hell) among an assortment of training equipment like punching bags. He supposed that the gym was also a literal gym to work out in, too.

A couple of the trainers looked up to spot the new challenger, some interested, others quickly focusing on their physical activity again. He didn’t know what the exact rules for this particular gym were, but he hoped that he could bypass all the preliminary fights and just get to the leader already.

It might not have been the best option, but at this point Kevin and probably the rest of the team were sick of grinding. As he and Lana walked forward towards the stadium at the back, nobody objected, so he assumed that it was all right.

The gym leader was a young woman with pink hair in an exercise getup. It didn’t really matter to Kevin who she was, though. To him, she was only an obstacle blocking the path to the Shades. She acknowledged him and Lana, gave a friendly smile, and pointed them to the other end of the arena.

“Hey there, I’m Maylene. You’re probably here for a badge, right?” She flicked her short hair away from her eyes and grinned with determination. “Three on three, okay?”

“Uh…” Lana started, but Kevin beat her to it.

“You mean three one on ones or a regular switch-out switch-in fight? Or triples?” he asked. Maylene’s eyes widened.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I always forget about that part! You can switch and the battle’s over when all three members of a team are down. Sound good?” It looked like she felt a little awkward, and she kept looking from Kevin to Lana trying to figure out whom to address.

All right, that was good. He still didn’t know how strong this gym leader was supposed to be, so if both Styler and Mist fainted it wouldn’t totally cost them the match. That said, he hoped that they’d survive long enough to at least take out one of their opponents.

Lana clenched Mist’s Pokéball, her nerves starting to get to her again. Despite her shaking hand, she managed to throw the Pokéball hard enough for Mist to be released in a flash of light. Okay. Now all that she had to do was remember the strategy.

Maylene called out a Meditite. Oh, good, something he was familiar with. If he recalled correctly, Meditite was both psychic and fighting type, meaning that… nothing was that special about it. As a newly evolved fighting type, Kevin would be happy if Mist could take her out, but he was sure that he could handle her if he absolutely had to.

Lana’s face scrunched up in concentration, trying to remember exactly what she had to do. Mist was supposed to be the ‘test’ Pokémon, a scout of sorts, so that Kevin could effectively grade the gym leader’s skill level without getting too hurt himself. Basically, if Mist’s Aqua Jet did decent damage, they’d have no problem.

Lana ordered the attack, which quickly hit first like it was supposed to. The Meditite wasn’t hurt as much as Kevin would’ve liked, unfortunately – she seemed to have taken it well. Crap. Mist didn’t know very many powerful moves.

The Meditite used Confusion, causing Mist to cry out in pain. She cringed and held her head between her paws, trying to sooth the throbbing feeling the attack brought on. Kevin frowned. All right, then, how about Sonicboom?

Lana let out a cry of panic. “Gah, uh, Water Gun!”

Wha— no! Mist was better with physical attacks! “Sonicboom!” Kevin harshly whispered, confusing Mist. Mist turned her head back to look at the both of them and subsequently got hit by another Confusion.

Maylene raised an eyebrow. “Hey, hey, pay attention, will ya?” she teased. “Let’s Meditate, okay?”

It took Kevin a second to realize that she was calling out an attack. Hastily, he called out to Mist, “Hey, now’s your chance!”

Mist nodded and did a flip, resulting in what could only be Sonicboom coming from… nowhere. Kevin didn’t know how it worked. The powering-up Meditite winced when the shockwave hit her face, and Maylene raised her eyebrow again.

“So, wait a minute, who’s the challenger here?” she asked idly. “Drain Punch.”

Lana flushed. “I am! I’m battling you!”

“Aqua Jet,” said Kevin, focusing on the battle. Mist swiftly dodged the punch and got a hit square in the back, which looked like a critical. Awesome.

“Care to tell me why your Pokémon’s calling all the shots, then? Drain Punch again,” She looked genuinely bewildered, but that didn’t distract him. Right now, Mist and Meditite’s fight was important.

As Mist took the hit, Lana’s eyes welled up in tears. “I…”

“Is there a problem with that?” Kevin cut in, momentarily laying his eyes on the pink-haired woman. “Try a Sonicboom at a closer range, Mist!”

Maylene shrugged. “Confusion. I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s just that I’ve never battled a Pokémon like this before.”

“But Gardenia said I’d be disqualified!” sobbed Lana. She was kind of a crybaby, now that Kevin thought about it.

“Hold on. Time out.” Maylene gestured to her Meditite who quickly stopped trying to beat Mist to a pulp. Mist stood up weakly, looking like she had expended most of her energy anyway. The gym leader turned to face Lana and Kevin. “They can’t disqualify you for that— Er, at least, I don’t think they can.”

“Huh?” Lana snivelled.

“Well, technically, the ‘no outside help’ rule only applies to other trainers. And since your Monferno isn’t a trainer… uh…” Maylene tapped her foot. “Eh, forget what I was saying, the Shades probably fixed that loophole by now.”

Kevin frowned. “Wait a minute. You mean what I’m doing is considered cheating?”

“Uh, yeah, kind of,” Maylene said.

“But Pokémon can’t be qualified Pokémon Trainers,” he said.

“Yeah,” Maylene confirmed.

“So there’s absolutely no way that a Pokémon can legally participate as a trainer in the sport anymore. Wow, I’m loving Mr. Shade more and more each day,” Kevin finished in a singsong voice. Damn that guy.

Nobody spoke for a long moment. Good thing, because he had a feeling that if somebody did speak up, he’d lash out at them. Oh, this was fantastic. Cosmic, even! The Shade, under the guise of wanting some sort of ‘perfect world’, probably wanted to make himself look politically correct. So he changed a few rules to make humans and Pokémon more equal, but ended up making it worse. Didn’t he ever want to bring good fortune?

Oh wait, this was his Uncle Mono. Of course not. He sighed. “…Is there any other loophole I can possibly exploit so that I can win the league?”

Maylene looked thoughtful. “I guess if you really wanted to, you could go to court—”

“Hell no,” Kevin said.

The Meditite spoke up. “Well, if you just went around being a trainer, wouldn’t the league people notice and fix the rule so that you can enter?”

He stared at her. “M-maybe, but—”

“You’re a Monferno. That’s going to make an impact on them, whether it’s politically correct or not. Isn’t it?” she added.

Kevin blinked. He didn’t know what to say.

“That’s what the Shade did, after all. He just showed up out of nowhere, said some stuff about Pokémon rights, and boom! Instant change.” The Meditite nodded. “People might think you’re just an imitator at first, but hey, you’ve got a point.”

Any other point in his lifetime always heralded a negative reaction from every random Pokémon he’d ever met. But now? Suddenly, Kevin held a newfound respect for the weirdo residents of Crazyland. He grinned.

“All right, then. Shall we continue with the match?” He smirked.

The blank look on Maylene’s face disappeared. “Oh… Yeah! Okay!”

*

The remainder of the match was pretty unremarkable. Mist fainted from Meditite’s Drain Punch, but Styler quickly took care of that problem. He had some trouble with Maylene’s second choice, a bulky Machoke, but he managed to knock out that one too, much to Kevin’s surprise. He was exhausted by then, though, so it looked like it was finally time for Kevin to shine on his own.

Maylene’s last Pokémon was an impressive-looking blue canine that Kevin had probably seen in a league video once or twice. The way he frowned when he saw his opponent made Kevin guess that fire types weren’t his favourite.

Okay, then. Maylene called for a Bone Rush, to which the Pokémon responded by creating a glowing blue baton-like bone between his paws. Whoa, now that was neat. But if Kevin’s knowledge of attacks had anything to say, attacks with the word “bone” in them meant they were ground type.

Fine, he could deal with that. Kevin instantly shot into a Flame Wheel, aiming to get behind his opponent. Maybe he could try a better version of Fire Spin by circling the other Pokémon and creating a wall of fire along the ground, but if he got too close he might get hit with a super effective attack.

The other Pokémon quickly sidestepped to face him again. Ah, so he wasn’t falling for that. That would make things a bit more interesting. Kevin went directly into a Mach Punch, a move that his foe did not predict, and ended up getting a solid hit on his opponent’s jaw. Sweet.

“He’s close! Force Palm!” shouted Maylene. What exactly was Force Palm? Kevin tried to duck, but the move’s shockwave effect grazed his shoulder and made him feel numb. Numb…

Wait, no, damn it! Not paralysis! That was like, the worst status condition ever, aside from being asleep. He swore to Arceus, if this Pokémon was going to try parafusion, he’d be pissed.

“Awesome, Lucario! Drain Punch!” called the gym leader. Oh, never mind, this “Lucario” was just a wannabe Breloom. Now that he thought about it… His old Breloom strategy would’ve worked fine from the start. He hated when he forgot stuff like that.

Kevin ran low to the ground and attempted to trip Lucario with his tail. It worked somewhat; the foe lost his balance but caught himself before he faceplanted. That was all Kevin needed, though. A quick Flame Wheel to the back gave Lucario a good, clean hit and gave Kevin fantastic results. Judging by the look on Lucario’s face, that was definitely super effective, and it hurt.

“Turn the tables and use his own strategy against him!” Maylene yelled. Ha, no way was he going to let that happen. This strategy was second nature to him.

Kevin jumped over the Lucario’s aimed kick and smirked, rolling into another Flame Wheel in midair. Lucario managed to dodge the airborne attack, but the speed of the move quickly caught up with him. Kevin crashed into him and rendered him unconscious.

So… they’d won the match. He grinned. He felt like a little kid again, when he’d first figured out how to defeat the super-strong Breloom in Petalburg Woods all those years ago. He glanced at Maylene, who was fishing around for something in a bag.

After a few seconds of searching, she pulled out a shiny piece of metal and handed it to Kevin. “Well, here you go. It’s called the Cobble Badge. You won it, fair and square.” She smiled again, returned her Lucario to his Pokéball, and wished him good luck with all the other badges and the league.

Lana got up from the bench on the sidelines. She looked miserable, Kevin noticed. He suddenly realized how upset she probably was, what with her gym battle turning into his. What could he say, though? “I’m sorry?” To be frank, he didn’t really care about her that much. Still, he did feel a little guilty.

They left the gym in silence, their only interaction with each other being Kevin giving Lana the badge. Oh well. It didn’t matter, they were one step closer to the Shade, right?

…He really, _really_ hated that sour taste he got when he felt guilty.


	16. Chapter 16

“So I take it the battle went well?” Kari asked as Kevin tossed the Cobble Badge into the air, catching it again for the hundredth time. He chuckled, holding the small piece of silver up to the sinking sun to see how the light reflected off of it.

“It was too easy, really. Styler did really well for a rookie and I barely got hurt at all,” He paused, slightly frowning. “Mist needs a lot of work, though. As soon as she figures out how to use some more powerful attacks, she should be fine.”

It was around four in the afternoon, and it was already starting to get dark. It didn’t bother him that much, though. Right now, Kevin was still caught up with his victory. The way the orange lighting complimented the badge’s own colouring helped.

“Five more to go, then. At this rate, it shouldn’t take that long at all,” Kari beamed. Suddenly, she remembered something. “Oh hey, why is Lana all gloomy?”

Kevin flinched. “Well… I don’t know,” he said quickly. Kari saw through the lie easily and glared at him.

“Yeesh. You’ve gotta learn to stop making other people feel bad, otherwise you’ll end up just like—”

“Like _Shady_ , I know. That’s all you ever talk about,” grumbled Kevin. He was really getting tired of being compared to dear old Uncle Mono.

Kari turned her head, her face mildly annoyed with him. “It’s not my fault that you two are pretty much twins. If it weren’t for the age difference, I’d think you were.”

“We’re _nothing_ alike,” Kevin stressed. It wasn’t hard to tell the difference, really.

“Dear,” Kari said. Kevin shot her a glare.

“Would you quit calling me that? Like I said, I’m not him.”

She seemed a little taken aback. “I… You’re right. You’re not, and I should know that…” Trailing off, she quickly changed subjects again. “So, um, what are you planning to do for the next gym?”

“That depends. What type is it?” He kind of wished that types were standardized across all the regions so he’d know already, but whatever.

“Water,” Kari replied steadily.

Damn, that sucked. “Oh. That’s nice,” he said sarcastically.

Kari started to trot over across the clearing to Cheri. “Thought you might say that. C’mon and tell the rest of us how to win.”

“Wha— Hey!” Kevin yelled after her before stumbling to catch up.

*

All members of the team save Kevin himself sat attentively and listened to what he had to say. Truthfully, he was lacking in the fighting-against-waters department. Kevin tended to avoid them a lot due to the dangers of getting his flame doused. He only took them on when he was sure he could win, like the pink sluggish thing he’d battled when he’d evolved. To be honest, Kevin wasn’t even sure if he could battle Mist confidently, weak attacks and all.

Kari was definitely in the gym battle group. That much he could figure. The traits that made her a terrible choice for the last gym made her somewhat useful for the upcoming fight – water types were generally slow Pokémon, with only a select few being above average in speed. Kari could probably do some damage, as long as none of them packed Ice Beam or something.

Speed was a good thing here, yeah. Cheri would be good, then, even if she was a horrible attacker. Wherever water type gyms were found, Gyarados were sure to be there. The only reason it wasn’t used in Sootopolis was because the gym leader liked “beautiful” Pokémon, right? Yeah, that was it. He hoped the gym leader here was sensible enough to use Gyarados regardless of how it looked.

…Wait, no he didn’t. Gyarados were really good. It’d be better if they didn’t have to take one down. Oh well, Cheri would be on the team anyway. Fast electrics were useful.

So that left Nini, Mist, Styler and himself. Kevin had figured that Buneary were pretty much the equivalent of Skitty from Hoenn: cute, but kind of bad. Mist was okay, but water versus water wasn’t exactly a good match up either. Styler could probably work, but potential Ice Beams and intimidates from Gyarados would be something to look out for. And himself?

His grandmother had always used Thunder Punch to counter water types. He’d never inherited that, though, and he had no idea how to go about learning the move. What else was there? Solarbeam was a no-go unless he wanted to evolve. Other grass type moves? Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf, Stun Spore, Giga Drain, Grass Knot, Absorb…

Well, Grass Knot was just making a knot out of grass. Maybe he could learn that? There was no way he’d be able to perfect it without a lot of practice, though. And where was he supposed to get the grass from indoors? Kevin sighed internally. He was going to have to rely on the others for this gym, but he’d get back in the game after. Unless the next gym was ground or something.

“’Kay. Here’s the deal. Styler leads as a sort of test run. He’ll be like Mist last match and try to do as much damage as possible. Then Cheri, I guess. Um… Just Thunderbolt stuff. Kari, you’re last. Just Razor Leaf like heck and Bite if they get too close. That sound good?”

“Je ne fait pas le Thunderbolt,” replied Cheri.

“What? You… You can’t?” What kind of electric type didn’t have Thunderbolt?

“J’ai le Spark,” she said. “C’est bon?”

“Uh…” Couldn’t she sprinkle some more English in there? “Spark’s like Flame Wheel, right? It should be okay… I think.” ‘Okay’ was being generous. Physical moves against a Gyarados, even if they were quadruple-effective, wouldn’t be doing the damage they needed. But it was better than nothing.

She smiled and said something else in French. Kevin chose to smile and nod back, even if he had no idea what she said. He looked around to the others. “All good?”

The others all shrugged or nodded. Then Kari decided to take the lead.

“All right, then, it’s settled! We should all get some training in this evening, so meet back here once it gets to dark, okay?” Slowly but surely, the rest of the team went their own separate ways to battle some more wild Pokémon, leaving Kevin and Kari alone.

“Could I talk to you again?” she asked, quickly snapping her head up to face him. He looked at the Grotle, shrugged, and sat down by a tree.

“Sure,” he answered. What else was there to talk about anyway?

“Um… If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer, but… Where did your father go?” Kevin’s face contorted into an unpleasant frown.

He crossed his arms and scoffed before answering. “According to Mom, he left to become a human.”

Naturally, Kari was surprised. “Really? How would he do that?”

“With a machine or something, who knows?” Kevin said as he got up and walked away. The truth was, he did know, but he really didn’t feel like telling Kari anything about it. Besides, what did it matter to her? His father hadn’t had anything to do with his life for years now.

Kari followed him, excited. “Oh, come on! This is important! If Pokémon can turn into humans somehow—”

“Then that would be bad. Trust me, I’ve met some of my dad’s friends. They’re all so weird.” Kevin sighed.

“Oh really? How so?” pressed Kari. Kevin shot her a look and attempted to explain further.

“Their instincts make them crazy. One of them has to do a creepy dance ritual every Monday night.” Kari laughed at this.

“What Pokémon are— Er, were they?” she asked.

“Clefairy,” said Kevin, which made her laugh even harder.

“Ha! But seriously, though. It’s actually possible… That is, if I’m to take your word for it. Why doesn’t anyone know about it, then?” The two stopped walking. Huh, she had a point.

“Not sure. I guess they wanted to keep it secret.” Kevin cracked his knuckles. “All right, let’s see if we can find some kid trainer to battle us for once.”

*

The next few days were a blur of uninteresting events for Kevin. They’d found a restaurant with tons of trainers who were willing to fight them, and that had certainly toughened them up. There were other trainers here and there that they’d battled too. Overall, it was just more grinding, but it was grinding they needed.

He decided to be nice to Lana (after all, he had kind of stolen her spotlight at Veilstone) and let her command the team in the Pastoria gym match. Unfortunately, the first time around resulted in a loss. Although Kevin really wanted to just jump in there and battle himself, if they were going to win the league, Lana had to be skilled too. So for the rest of the day, he trained her instead.

By the end of the week they’d obtained their new badge. Lana seemed to be feeling a little better, but she also still seemed to be sore. He shrugged it off, though. She could deal with her own problems. He had more important things to think about.

The whole time, Kari was becoming even friendlier, which was kind of disturbing. He couldn’t count how many times he told her that he wasn’t the Shade, but she ignored him and kept on treating him like he was. She couldn’t get her memories out of her mind, he guessed.

The one thing Kevin wasn’t sure was good or bad, though, was actually somewhat intriguing. He didn’t know how or why, but for some reason, he was starting to get sort of famous. Trainers would come up to him and ask him if he wanted to battle instead of Lana, and people seemed to be recognizing him, even when they made their way back up to Hearthome City.

It wasn’t until they were taking a break in the Pokémon Center that he realized how major it was.

Kevin was lounging on one of the couches when the report went on the radio. At first, he didn’t pay any attention to it; if it wasn’t a battle or a contest it wasn’t worth watching, or listening to, for that matter. Once the reporter mentioned the Shades, though, he perked up to listen to what she was talking about.

_“…However, inside sources claim that this new Monferno entering the playing field is in no way affiliated with them. We will now begin our exclusive interview with Mr. Shade himself.”_

The reporter’s voice was replaced with another woman’s. _“This is Roxy, here with Mr. Shade! All right, let’s cut to the chase. Do you know anything about this ‘Slick’ character?”_

Kevin blinked. Slick? But that meant…

 _“Like I keep saying, no,”_ said a deep voice. Kevin did a double take. Okay, that voice sounded eerily familiar… But he supposed Uncle Mono would have a tone similar to his mother’s, but male. Still, it sounded pretty deep for someone barely three feet tall.

 _“But you must have some idea of who he is or where he’s from, right? Or are you saying that he’s just an imitator?”_ asked reporter Roxy. She sounded pretty into the interview.

 _“I don’t even know what this kid looks like,”_ said the Shade. Kari, who was previously a few feet away from Kevin, had scuttled up to the couch.

_“Eyewitness reports describe him as three feet—”_

_“Obviously,”_ the Shade cut in. He sounded like a grumpy person, no doubt.

 _“—with blue eyes as the most striking feature,”_ finished Roxy, unfazed. There was a pause.

 _“Are you sure?”_ said Mr. Shade.

 _“Definitely. Do you know who Slick is, Mr. Shade?”_ Roxy added, her excitement becoming clear. _“Oh, I know! Why don’t you say a few words to him, in case he’s listening?”_

 _“Give me a minute, I’ve gotta word this right,”_ the Shade said. There was a brief hesitation before the sound of a throat being cleared was heard. Roxy waited patiently for him to answer.

 _“Mr. Shade?”_ she asked, her voice practically oozing with curiosity.

 _“Okay. Listen, Slick. I know who you really are. And if you don’t get over to the Battle Zone soon, some chump’s gonna pay, all right? That’s all.”_ The Shade’s conclusion was hastily followed by Roxy again.

 _“Well now! It sounds like we have a new rivalry going on!”_ she sounded like she was grinning.

 _“It’s not a rivalry, I just wanna kill him,”_ muttered the Shade. The interview then cut to a commercial advertising the Veilstone Game Corner.

“So that’s what he sounds like, huh?” Kevin muttered. A few pairs of eyes were on him, but he paid them no mind.

“His voice never used to be that deep,” acknowledged Kari.

“He knows my old nickname,” Kevin remarked.

“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t he?” Kari asked, clearly perplexed.

Kevin sighed and shook his head. “We’d better start working hard. I wouldn’t want someone innocent to pay for my lateness, would I?”

He was looking forward to meeting the Shade in person, he really was.


	17. Chapter 17

“The gym leader’s still not here?”

What kind of gym leader left their gym for more than a week? There were people who _wanted_ to get badges. Even if the gym leader was taking a vacation or something, were they really too cheap to hire a temporary replacement? Geez.

“Um,” said Lana, “the note says she’s back today… but she’s judging a Pokémon Contest first.” Lana affixed the sticky note back onto the door and looked down towards Kevin. “Well, we can’t do anything about that, so… What?”

Kevin was grinning. “The contest is happening now?”

“Yeah, but…” Lana said.

“But what? I wanna see this,” Kevin said. His grin grew larger.

“Wouldn’t that be wasting time?” asked Lana, giving him a slight frown.

“Nah, the leader’s there so it’s not like we can challenge her. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t suggest it, but hey, I like contests. I haven’t seen one in a while.” He wondered if the contests in Sinnoh were any good compared to the ones in Hoenn. Judging by the conversation they’d had earlier in Eterna Forest, he supposed they at least had similar rules, but whether they held up or not was another question.

Lana still seemed to be uneasy. “Well, okay. Um… I’ll ask if the others want to see it, too.”

The five other Pokémon soon materialized once Lana opened all the Pokéballs. A couple of them looked around, wondering why they’d all been sent out. Lana smiled half-heartedly at them.

“Uh, hi guys. Slickky wants to see a Pokémon Contest and the gym leader’s not here, so, um, does anyone else want to go, too?”

Kari snorted. “No. I think I made that clear the last time the topic came up.” Ouch. Grouchy Kari was back.

Cheri frowned at her. “Tu n’as pas le respect, madame!”

“Tu n’as pas l’intelligence, dumbass!” she retorted. Huh. She was _really_ in a bad mood.

Cheri gasped. “Je n’ai jamais—”

“Really, you two, you should stop!” Styler tried, unhelpfully clicking his beak. Kari glared at him.

“Just saying the truth,” muttered Kari. Lana returned her to her Pokéball before she could say anything else.

Out of everyone else, only Cheri really wanted to go ( _fantastic_ ), so they were all returned to their Pokéballs before Lana, Kevin, and the Pachirisu left for the contest hall. It was a short, somewhat familiar walk for Kevin, having briefly been in the area before, after all, but now that he wasn’t getting lost he appreciated the content air of the city.

Once at the contest hall, Lana announced with dismay that the contest had already started. After a bit of pleading with the guard, though, she was allowed into the cheap seats section – but hey, Kevin wasn’t complaining. At least they got in.

The appeal round was already pretty much over by the time they were seated. Unfortunately, Kevin’s poor eyesight didn’t help him see the remaining appeals all that well from where he was positioned in the large stadium, but with the help of the MC he was able to take it in.

First up was something that looked like it was related to Magnemite. The MC quickly announced that it was called “Magnezone”, so his hunch was probably correct. It started off by creating a Light Screen force field around itself, glowing pink. Its trainer commanded it to use something called Mirror Shard, a move that Kevin had vaguely heard of once or twice on television. The Light Screen turned a shade of silver before breaking into six sections further away from it.

Magnezone was then told to use Discharge followed by a Shock Wave. A series of blue and yellow currents of electricity quickly shot out from the yellow antenna on its head, reflecting off the Mirror Shards and bouncing between them. Finally, each current made its way back to the antenna and the mirrors shattered. Like always in contests, sparkles mysteriously rained down upon the audience.

The judges’ reactions were mostly synonymous. The first man nodded and praised the trainer, a young woman, on using her Pokémon’s natural mathematical ability to calculate the exact angles of the electricity being reflected off of the mirrors and… Wait, what? It took math to do that? Kevin raised an eyebrow.

The second judge, who Kevin guessed was the gym leader, clapped and cheered. “C’est magnifique! Bravo!” Oh great, more French. Cheri shouted something in French beside him, too.

The last judge to speak was _remarkably_ familiar, Kevin noted. He could’ve sworn that that particular judge was at every contest he’d ever been to. Maybe he had a lot of identical cousins like Nurse Joy?

The MC was visibly impressed as well. “Let’s give it up for Marianna and Circuit, everybody!” The audience applauded. Kevin didn’t really know what his opinion was in particular, but he knew she was experienced, that was for sure. She’d probably be in the top three at worst.

There was only one more appeal left, that being someone with a Zigzagoon. The Pokémon of choice made Kevin frown. Not that he had anything against Zigzagoon in general, but he had something against Zigzagoon in general. They had called him a demon back home far too many times for him to be optimistic. Unfortunately for the Zigzagoon, his trainer looked to be a beginner and accidentally told him to use Growl, of all things. The judges tried their best to gently tell her to practice more.

Since they had just arrived, instead of leaving for the intermission, Kevin stayed in the main stadium with Lana and Cheri. The Pachirisu was completely exhilarated. She was sparking everything she could get her paws on (including Kevin himself), trying to come up with an appeal. She lacked any other useful moves to combine it with, Kevin thought, otherwise she probably would be okay for a contest.

Upon the contest’s resumption, the sixteen winners of the appeal round were shuffled into a random, tournament-style chart to see whom they would be battling for the first round. Other than the obviously experienced Marianna, there appeared to be several others at her skill level, most likely all aiming for a fifth ribbon to be eligible for the Grand Festival. Kevin supposed that it took place around the same time as the Pokémon League did much like it did back in Hoenn.

Apparently Hearthome was weird and liked to do things differently, because each round would be single battles save the final, which would have a double battle instead. Huh. Despite the weirdness, the battles were quite entertaining, for Kevin at least.

Gardevoir versus Persian pitted an unfavourable match up, though not at first glance if one only took Pokémon types into consideration. The sleek, smirking Persian quickly made short work of Gardevoir in only a few bites (Kevin decided that she must have been a Technician) and with four and a half minutes out of five to spare. He absentmindedly wondered if Gardevoir could learn any fighting type moves. His Aunt Lily certainly hadn’t.

Meanwhile, in an absurdly mind blowing battle, a Teddiursa with enough strength to lift a piano was able to take down a mighty Blissey in a surprisingly exhausting fight. The Blissey had appeared to be winning first, spamming Softboiled in a haughty way, until the Teddiursa snapped (Kevin supposed it had something to do with the taunts Blissey was uttering as well) and essentially threw Blissey to the other side of the stadium, resulting in a one-hit K.O. Teddiursa’s trainer looked extremely frightened of her Pokémon once the match was over.

Marianna didn’t use her Magnezone for her battle, instead opting for a small parrot Pokémon that Lana identified as a Chatot. The Pokémon had a nasty glare that also gave Kevin an unpleasant reminder of some residents of Petalburg Woods who didn’t like him. Regardless, he was able to appreciate the Pokémon as it took down opponents nearly ten times its size. An angry ground type, Hippowdon, the MC called it, put up an impressive fight with a beautiful-looking Stone Edge that circled the entire field with ease, but Celestine the Chatot rebounded with Sing. The soothing melody put the Hippowdon and a few members of the crowd to sleep, leaving Celestine to quickly finish her job with a swift… Heat Wave? Sinnoh Pokémon had some weird move sets.

It was no surprise to Kevin or the rest of the audience at this point that Marianna was in the finals. The other trainer that made it, an Eevee-themed trainer who’d used a different evolution for each match, was coolly eyeing her from across the field. He hadn’t seen Eevee-guy’s appeals because of his late arrival, but Kevin figured he had to be pretty good, judging by the crowd.

The MC excitedly announced the final match. “This is it! The winner of this contest is either previous Grand Festival winner Marianna or the dark horse newcomer, Evan! Ready? With five minutes on the clock, the match starts _now_!”

“Cecily, Circuit, let’s go!” shouted Marianna. Kevin wondered why everyone on her team had an alliterative name. (His mind darkly decided that Marianna had renamed all her Pokémon to suit her own tastes, and he frowned.) The Magnezone from before and a sturdy, also steel type penguin emerged from the white light, the metal on their bodies gleaming. They looked impressive, all shiny like that.

Evan smirked and flung his two Pokéballs as well. “Espeon and Umbreon,” he said needlessly.

Kevin blinked a few times. That was stupid. Both psychic and dark did nothing to steel types. And he was pretty sure that neither of them knew Heat Wave, either.

Marianna also seemed to be confused, but the timer quickly motivated her to get started with the battle. “All right, then, let’s open with the Flashing Cannon Combo!”

The “Flashing Cannon Combo” lived up to its name. Cecily charged up a silver beam attack as Circuit readied a Shock Wave, and the two fired their attacks simultaneously. The Shock Wave appeared to be magnetized to the steel-type move, circling round the beam like a ribbon. Oh, and it sparkled, too.

Evan told his Umbreon to move in front of Espeon, shielding it from the attack. At least that made a bit of sense. If Espeon had been hit with that brilliant move, Kevin doubted that it’d still be standing. The judges, due to lack of anything fancy on Evan’s part, took away some of his points.

“Dig, both of you,” Evan said, and his fast Eeveelution duo complied. Marianna rolled her eyes.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen that strategy before, you know. Wash ‘em out with Surf, Cissy!”

Cecily smugly sent a wave of (sparkling) water over the stage, flooding the newly made holes and sending both of Evan’s Pokémon gasping up for air. The judges removed more of his points.

Now visibly frustrated, Evan arrogantly retorted back at her, “We’re not finished yet! We’ve got fancy combos just like you! Gold and Silver, go!”

Gold and Silver was indeed a fancy combo. Combining Morning Sun and Moonlight, Espeon and Umbreon healed, sparkling as they did so, regaining health and eliminating some of Marianna’s points. Since it was daytime, Espeon healed more than Umbreon, but that evened out because Umbreon was the bulkier of the two.

Marianna narrowed her eyes. “All you’re doing is stalling the fight. I’m going to finish this. Blackout combo, guys.”

Cecily and Circuit smiled at each other (Well, whatever the robotic equivalent of smiling was, for the Magnezone) and began their attack. Cecily sent out a second wave of water, this time a larger one. She jumped back as far as the field boundaries would allow her, letting Circuit take her place. Circuit put its magnet appendages into the water, sending a current through it that looked quite painful, if Kevin did say so himself. Espeon and Umbreon braced themselves; electricity coursed through their bodies before they fell limply on the dirt floor. Evan was just as stunned as his Pokémon.

The audience exploded with applause.  Kevin let out a whistle. Well, the Sinnoh contests had definitely exceeded his expectations. Once everything got settled down with the Shades, maybe he’d find a way to enter one. He hoped he wouldn’t have to encounter Marianna and her team in battle, though.

The MC had eventually started wrapping everything up while the applause kept going. “Congratulations to Marianna and her partners, Cecily the Empoleon and Circuit the Magnezone! This is Marianna’s fifth ribbon, so expect to see her in the Grand Festival, as well as the Pokémon League, in which she’ll also be competing!”

Ah. He had to go and jinx it, didn’t he? Lana actually cried “What?!”. Well, he could worry about that in December. Right now, he had to think about getting their fifth badge.

“That’s a wrap, folks! This was Hearthome’s November 2010 Pokémon Contest! See you next year in January, everyone!” The MC finished. Everyone was cheering… except Kevin.

“…2010?” he repeated, his mouth opening slightly. Whoa, lady, that wasn’t right, it was only 2000, wasn’t it? She’d probably just slipped up or something. Yeah, that was it.

He felt uneasy when he turned around to leave, seeing a poster. He couldn’t read the letters, but he knew numbers pretty well, and what they said agreed with her.

“November 2010… What?!”


	18. Chapter 18

“You look like you’re going to puke,” said Lana, edging away from him a little. “Are you okay?”

It had been several hours since the Pokémon Contest had ended. Kevin and Lana were currently being bored in one of the Pokémon Center rooms, neither of them being tired enough to go to sleep. She was kind of weirded out from him being there; he could tell. But he wasn’t going back into the Pokéball. Not if it was true…

Kevin grimaced and sat up from the end of the bed where he lay. “Tell me something,” he said.

“Uh, what, exactly?” asked Lana. How was he going to put this…?

“Um, what’s the science behind a Pokéball? Like, how does it work?” Kevin knew before he finished his sentence that Lana was going to be incredibly unhelpful.

“How should I know? That’s high school science! University, even!” she said. She sighed. “Well, I guess if you really want to know, you could look it up on the internet.”

“I can’t read,” Kevin said disdainfully. At the moment, he really wished he could. But _no_ , stupid childhood-him decided that it was _useless_. Just like status moves and his little brother’s battling ability. Excellent.

Lana groaned. “Can’t you make somebody else read it for you? I mean, not me, but—”

Kevin grabbed Kari’s Pokéball and headed for the door. “’Kay, bye.”

As he stepped quietly down the stairs, Kevin wondered exactly how useful the internet would be. You had to search for something first, right? So what was he going to search for? _Pokéballs that don’t age the Pokémon_?

He figured that was the only explanation for what had happened. There was no way that Crazyland was so far off from reality to be ten years in the future from Hoenn. He wouldn’t believe it. And seeing as Kevin was still just fourteen (he was pretty sure he wasn’t as old as Kari, at least), he couldn’t have aged. Like, at all. But how would a Pokéball do _that_ to him?

The public computer at the front of the building was free for any trainer to use, so he supposed that the Shades would have made the rule apply to Pokémon too. The night shift employees didn’t say anything as he pressed the power button, so he guessed that it was all right. He dropped Kari’s Pokéball on the ground, releasing her.

“…What is it?” she mumbled. She still sounded kind of cranky.

“Um… Can you help me look something up?” Kevin asked her. He felt so awkward for no good reason.

She blinked sleepily. “Like what, dear?”

He frowned. “Don’t call me that. Um, well… So you know I’m fourteen, right?”

Kari blinked a few more times, trying to wake up. “Well, I suppose so. It doesn’t make any sense, of course—”

“Wait, you knew?” Kevin cut in. He felt his jaw drop a little. What.

“Of course I knew. According to— to _him_ , you were supposed to be my age. That’s why it didn’t really click until a little after we’d met. So you’re telling me that you don’t know why you haven’t aged a bit?” Kari eyed him inquisitively, as if she could figure out the answer by staring at him for a while.

“Er… no.” _She freakin’ knew_?

Kari narrowed her eyes. “Then tell me everything from the beginning. You were off on a trip, right?”

“Y-yeah… It was really boring around home, so I wanted to travel a bit. I just went around Hoenn and watched contests when I could,” Kevin said. “Then I got captured and ended up here.”

Kari started to pace. “Do you know who captured you?”

Looking up at the ceiling, Kevin struggled to remember. “They got me from behind, so I couldn’t see, but I think it was an old guy. Not the kid who had me before,” he answered.

“You mean they just threw a Pokéball at you from behind and you were captured like that?” Kari asked. Kevin scoffed.

“I’m not that weak! Something used Sleep Powder on me.” That he knew for sure.

“And this all happened in Hoenn, not Sinnoh?” Kari stopped pacing and glared at the floor.

“Lilycove City,” he confirmed.

“Okay… Nothing odd seems to have happened during the capture, so let’s focus on what happened after that,” Kari said.

“How? I was in the Pokéball, I don’t know anything,” Kevin spat. The conversation was quickly getting irritating.

“Cool off, Kevin. We can infer what probably happened.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Obviously your captor never got around to using you in battle. If that’s the case, we can probably safely assume that he put you into a storage facility and forgot about you.”

“Wha— So Pokémon don’t age in storage?” Kevin asked, completely lost.

She shot him a look. “They’re supposed to. I don’t know if I can prove it, though. The most I’ve been in storage is six months, and it’s not easy to say if _I_ aged or not.”

“I think it’s safe to say that you aged,” Kevin quipped, earning him a death glare.

“ _Anyway_ ,” continued Kari, fuming, “I think we’re still going to have to look something up. Try something like ‘major Pokéball defects’ and see what that brings up.”

Kevin stared at the computer. “If I can’t read, how am I supposed to type?”

“Do you think I can type, you idiot? I don’t even have hands!” Kari glowered.

“I don’t know how to type either!” he said indignantly.

“I’ve never even used a computer before in my life!” she retaliated.

“Well neither have I!” he shot back.

“Then how’d you turn it on?” growled Kari.

“The same way you turn on a TV, obviously!” Kevin said. He felt himself heating up; it had been a while since he was frustrated enough to start burning things.

Kari gave him an oh-you’re-completely-useless look and shot her head towards the Nurse Joy at the counter. “Miss, could you please assist us?”

The sour taste assaulted him again as Kevin realized what he’d practically yelled for the rest of the world to hear. The nurse was at her desk the whole time… but she didn’t hear everything, right?

“I assume you heard what we’re arguing about. If you may, would you please search ‘major Pokéball defects’ for us?” Kari asked her politely when she hesitantly walked up to them. The nurse nodded. Oh, fantastic.

Joy booted up an internet browser and a search engine, as Kari called it. As much as Kevin would have liked to get into it, when the internet first got popular he couldn’t due to lack of a computer and ability to use one. Still, though he knew little, he was pretty sure that the internet used to be much smaller than it was.

Apparently there were over four million results for the issue. Kari wasn’t pleased; she kept telling Nurse Joy to search for rewordings and synonyms of her first suggestion but to no avail. She sighed, looking Kevin sternly in the eye.

“Do you have any ideas?” she asked, desperation clearly seeping into her facial features.

Kevin frowned. “Why don’t you stop being vague and actually search for ‘ageless Pokémon’ or whatever?”

She looked back to the monitor. Nurse Joy sat with pursed lips, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, awaiting their next command.

“…All right. ‘Pokémon who have not aged’.”

*

After what Kevin could only describe as hundreds of articles about legendary Pokémon, most notably Celebi, Kari finally spotted something in a related article section that seemed relevant. Upon Nurse Joy’s click, the article opened and with a squeal of delight, Kari grinned at him.

“Got it! This has to be it!” she said giddily.

Kevin was still reeling from the sound she’d made before (a sound that he was definitely _not_ expecting), but he shook it off. “What does it say?”

Kari cleared her throat in preparation to read. “Okay, listen to this; it’s from around 2002 or so…”

“For generations, trainers young and old carried all their Pokémon with them, regardless of how feasible it was. Known somewhat infamously as one of a trainer’s many burdens, this was an issue until the mid 1980s, when a young aspiring Pokémaniac known only as Bill invented the PC Storage System.

“’I noticed one day that this lady had pretty much become a hunchback from carrying around thirty or forty Pokémon in her backpack. Computers weren’t that widespread among trainers because they traveled a lot, but I figured I could easily change that,’ says Bill.

“Indeed, Bill’s idea was phenomenal. The PC Storage System allows anyone with a trainer card to store and withdraw up to eighteen (previously fourteen) ‘boxes’ full of Pokémon. Each box holds thirty, allowing a trainer to potentially store 540 Pokémon if they so desired. However, is this great invention of the twentieth century all it’s cracked up to be?

“’Yeah, there have been some glitches, you could say that,’ says Bill. ‘Occasionally we lose a Pokémon somewhere in storage and can’t find them. And in very, _very_ rare cases, some Pokémon have undergone side effects that cause them to “glitch up”, as some people like to put it.’

“Such rare cases are sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘Glitch Pokémon’ by some circles of trainers. The most famous of these ‘glitches’ is known as ‘Missingno.’, a Pokémon that was previously a Kangaskhan before having its DNA distorted from being deposited incorrectly. Missingno. went on to become a public nuisance and delinquent in Cinnabar Island, Kanto, before eventually being recaptured by an experienced trainer.

“However, there are more lesser-known problems in the system. For unknown reasons, there is occasionally a Pokéball model that is incompatible with the program. Upon being asked about the issue, Bill said, ‘Oh, that’s no big deal. When that error happens, it’s just a problem with the state of suspended animation. All it does is slow down cell division to a fraction of the speed it’s supposed to happen.’

“In simpler terms, the action is essentially equivalent to agelessness. Though depositing a Pokémon in a Pokéball with this incompatibility has no negative short-term effects, trainers are advised to discard the incompatible models and replace them with new ones to prevent any potential damage.

“As of this writing, there have been only four Pokéball recalls: Ultra Model #15673, Poké Model #22278, Premier Model #33, and Master Model #17. If you or one of your friends own Pokéballs under any of these model numbers, you may exchange them for compatible models at any Poké Mart free of charge.”

Kari finished with a cough, her throat sore from reading. She attempted to clear her throat again, stopping when it caused too much pain.

“…You could have skipped all the background information,” Kevin said quietly.

She coughed. “I thought it was relevant,” mumbled Kari.

He paused before inquiring. “What was the Pokéball number?”

“22278,” Kari read, squinting. She yawned.

“Wait here for a second,” said Kevin. Swiftly, he turned around, bolted up the staircase, and soon returned, holding his Pokéball. He tossed it to Kari, bouncing it off her head (which she cursed at him for) to open it. Inside, in fine print, was the model number.

“I may not know letters, but I know those numbers. 22278.” Kevin violently jabbed the power button on the computer, shutting it down. He turned to Nurse Joy. “Thanks. You can go now.”

The nurse bolted out of her chair back to her desk. Kevin noticed that she was shaking, but he really didn’t care right now. He looked at Kari, who was staring hard at the Pokéball.

“So someone caught you, shoved you into storage, and withdrew you ten years later to give you to that kid you were with before. That’s what I figure,” said Kari.

Kevin was shaking his head. “’Course. It’s not a major problem because nobody was stupid enough to keep their Pokémon in a box for that long. Or, I guess, that’s what Bill thinks. Damn it. I friggin’ _know_ Bill.”

“Do you?” asked Kari with mild interest.

Kevin glared. “Friend of my dad’s. You know, the Clefairy I told you about the other day?” The words were absentminded, but Kevin’s dark mood made them sickening to say.

“The inventor of the Storage System is a Clefairy?” Kari said, her eyebrows creasing with bemusement.

“Yeah. Why else wouldn’t he have a last name?” Kevin grabbed his Pokéball and stalked off towards the stairs, this time leaving a trail of charred floor behind him. Well, he wasn’t sleeping tonight.


	19. Chapter 19

The Hearthome Gym battle did little to save Kevin from his wandering thoughts. Now that he knew the reason he was in Crazyland was due to a stroke of pure misfortune, he couldn’t shake his mind off it. Of course, it’d be hard to stop thinking about why he hadn’t aged for ten years regardless, but it was really irking him.

He admitted that he felt a little cheated. As a child, Kevin had always fantasized about going on an adventure only he could complete. He’d ramble on and on, reciting what would happen to his mother and hearing her replies of “That’s lovely, sweetheart,” while she only half-listened. And now, when he was told that this pseudo-“adventure” had nothing to do with him and that there was nothing special about it, all that was left was the sour taste of defeat.

 _Cut it out. Focus on the gym battle_ , he thought to himself as he dodged an incoming Shadow Ball from the leader’s Gengar. He rarely addressed his conscience like this, but then again, Pokémon were rarely shoved in a box for ten years without aging. His tail grazed the blob of otherworldly energy and he cursed.

He fired a Flamethrower at his opponent. What Kevin really wanted to do right now was go home. He just wanted to forget about the Shades, Kari, Sinnoh, and everything else to go home and curl up in his favourite pecha tree without a care in the world. And then, magically, it’d be as though nothing happened; it’d still be 2000 and he’d still be one of the only talking Pokémon around.

He’d been avoiding the subject of thinking what had changed back home – who knew, maybe the pecha tree was gone, in its place just a lowly stump in the loamy soil, devoid of fruit like Sinnoh had come to be. Maybe the flock of Swellow that had called them demons for so long had moved on to a different forest. And maybe his mother was reaching the end of her life.

Kevin gulped down the increasingly foul taste. He charged into a Flame Wheel to avoid an attack that barely registered, spinning a little slower than usual. He had dreaded his mind wandering to the subject as it had several times the night before, but he supposed he couldn’t help it.

His mother wasn’t exactly young when she had her first child. Being three years older than his father must’ve been awkward, Kevin thought, but that wasn’t the main issue. The fact remained that his mom was twenty-eight when Kevin was born – an age fine for humans, but quite late for Monferno.

True, Monferno lived a fairly long life span usually, but since his mother was wild and not domestic, her life was considerably shorter. There was also the fact that Uncle Nick had died at age thirty, and although he was not exactly a standard Monferno of any kind and it wasn’t even a natural death, it made Kevin worry a bit more than he would have.

So if he’d done his math right (which Kevin was sure he did because he actually knew how to count), his mother was currently fifty-two. No wonder she looked different on Lana’s phone.

Unless a miracle happened and his mom lived to a hearty eighty, he doubted he would get to see much more of her. And the more time spent hunting the Shades, the less time he’d have with his mother once he got back home.

Kevin’s eyes stung when he was hit with a Shadow Punch to the back of his head. Oh right, the battle… He needed to focus on the battle…

_Somersaulting in the air with a flourish, Kevin launched himself into a Flame Wheel and quickly aimed for his target – his little brother, who, as usual, was eating part of his everlasting supply of apples._

Kyle cried out upon the strike. “Hey! Mom told you not to do that, Kevin!” he whined, shuffling away from his attacker.

_Kevin laughed. “You’re so weak. Maybe if you ate something other than those apples for once, you’d actually stand a chance against me,” Kevin mused, trying to get a reaction out of his brother. After all, he was bored and he’d already knocked out all the Wurmple in the area._

_His brother huffed at him, his deep brown eyes trying to hold back tears. “That really hurt! And I don’t want to battle you! Just leave me alone.”_

_Kevin mock-pouted. “You’re not any fun at all,” he drawled._

_“Well if you feel that way, then why don’t you leave? I’m sure it’ll be so fun for you to go and get beat up yourself for once. Yeah, see how you feel when an Aggron totally destroys you!” Kyle said bitterly._

_Kevin blinked. Kyle’s idea wasn’t actually half bad. Minus the getting destroyed bit, at least. Oh, yeah. He’d travel around Hoenn, get_ _ really _ _awesome, and then show his dumb little brother how awesome he was. Perfect._

_He shot Kyle a grin. “Sounds good. I’ll leave tomorrow.”_

That was a year ago— No, no, it would have been eleven years ago. That was in the summer, before he’d turned thirteen. Had he really been traveling that long? And to think, Kevin hadn’t seen the little weakling since, save for a cameo in the background of a few phone calls home. To be honest, Kevin kind of missed his little brother, not that he would admit it out loud.

He really ought to call home and talk to them. His previous phone call had been cut short, after all. Soon, soon he would, as soon as he finished the battle.

Oh crap, the battle.

He hadn’t even noticed what was going on for the past several minutes. Thank Arceus his subconscious was skilled enough to keep him relatively out of harm’s way, though his tail had been grazed quite a lot. Okay. Kevin was going to focus now. There was nothing left to think about, anyway.

…Right?

*

He said nothing while he accepted the silver and purple badge. Though his mind temporarily stopped thinking about anything painful, he was now plagued with the thought that nothing rhymed with silver or purple. Unless Wurmple counted, of course.

For some reason, the next gym was located upon the western coast of the region, a place that one had to either cross the sea or sky to get to. Upon hearing this, Kevin shuddered. Styler was unfamiliar with the way to go, which meant they’d probably swim over… and Kevin did not want to do that.

“Then go in your Pokéball like the rest of us,” said Kari. Kevin shot an incredulous look at the Grotle.

“Are you serious? _I’m not going back in that thing_ ,” Kevin insisted, his look turning into a steady glare. “You of all people should know why.”

“The ball alone didn’t do this to you, it was storage. You have nothing to be afraid of,” she retorted, her eyes narrowing as usual. “So are you going to let a little water impede your quest for justice?”

“Since when was it a quest for justice?” he mumbled. Kari laughed.

“Well, we’re getting back at him for what he did to me, right? That counts as justice in my book.” She smiled, showing her teeth, which Kevin found oddly creepy seeing as she tended to _not_ do that.

He sighed and surrendered to the ocean as Lana returned him to his Pokéball. He supposed even the greatest heroes lost battles to mere objects… At least, when they were fire type Pokémon who couldn’t swim.

Within the confines of his Pokéball, Kevin was free to think alone without being bombarded by attacks. At first he thought of basically the same things as before, worrying about his mother’s state of health and whatnot, until it him. He was twenty-four years old.

True, his body hadn’t grown in the last decade, but Kevin knew he was alive the whole time, thinking much like he was doing now. During his time in storage, he found it hard to tell time. sometimes it’d feel like he’d been there forever, but other times he’d feel like he was only there a second. Regardless, he had maintained conscious thought for ten years, and to him, that was enough.

Of course, in every other sense, he was still fourteen. Yeah, it wasn’t like his brain decided to age by itself. So he looked like a fourteen year old, thought like a fourteen year old, and was really twenty-four. Huh. He wondered if he could abuse that somehow.

Eventually, Lana and Mist got to the opposite shore where Canalave City lay, and the rest of the team was released from their confinement. Kevin glanced around, unhappy with what he saw. If this was supposed to be a beach, it sucked. There was no sand to speak of, and the air was so cool, it was a wonder Lana and Mist were able to swim this far. Apparently Kari noticed him wrinkling his nose, because she started laughing again.

“Did you really expect it to be like down south?” she chided, looking up at him.

“There could at least be _something_ resembling a beach. How does anyone stand it here again?”

Kari shook her head. “If everyone in Hoenn is half as whiny as you two, I think I’ll stay up here in the cold.”

Kevin frowned. She just had to keep casually mentioning Mr. Shade like that, didn’t she? She was kind of obsessed with him…

“Oh, and by the way, there is a beach. Two, actually. In Sandgem Town and Sunyshore,” she said.

Kevin threw his arms up in the air. “Your region makes no sense. It’s freezing and there’s no fruit, but there’s a couple beaches in some random towns and a mountain straight down the middle. Is anything consistent here?”

“Not really, the Battle Zone’s a tropical paradise even though it’s farther up than Snowpoint City,” Kari said absentmindedly.

Kevin groaned. He knew a lot of people hated the amount of water in Hoenn, but at least it had the decency to be warm everywhere.

*

“I want a battle.” Well, that was a way to be straightforward.

They had been walking across the giant bridge connecting the two islands that made up Canalave City together when Lana’s rude friend Henry showed up out of nowhere and demanded a battle.

Lana started to speak, but he cut her short.

“Not with you, with him,” he said, pointing to Kevin.

Rolling his eyes, Kevin replied, “Mind if I ask why?” Truth be told, the team probably needed the battling experience. After all, nobody had evolved for a while even though Kevin thought that they would by now. (He certainly felt powerful enough to do so, even though he’d been resisting.)

Henry’s borderline-angry expression was unchanged. “They say you’re good. I just want to see if you’re some cheap Shades imitator or not.”

Kevin’s fists clenched. Did everyone have to constantly compare him to the guy? Maybe if Monferno were more common it would stop happening… but that wasn’t likely to happen. Kevin crossed his arms. “’Kay. What kind of battle do you want?”

“Single, one Pokémon,” said Henry without missing a beat. That was nice for a change, so long as it wasn’t a water type—

Oh, was that what the brat was trying to do? Get him with an unfair weakness or something? Henry was clasping a particular Pokéball with confidence, so he wouldn’t put it past him to use a cheap strategy. Kevin smirked. Well, not today. He’d already lost to water once.

Henry chucked the Pokéball a few feet in front of him and released… an Infernape.

Oh.

Well, okay, Kevin wasn’t going to lose to one of _those_ , either! Infernape sucked, because the two Infernape Kevin knew sucked, so… He shook his head. The rationale didn’t matter, but the battle did. And this time, he was going to focus.

He opened with a Mach Punch, narrowly missing the Infernape’s jaw and hitting the golden shoulder armour instead. The Infernape glowered down at him, and something about him looked familiar, but unless it was Inneo the Demon Hunter or something it was unlikely he’d met the guy…

“Stone Edge,” called Henry. Wha— Damn.

Kevin jumped backwards in time to avoid a large hunk of rock that seemed to appear from nowhere from slamming into him. The Infernape smirked at him, his eyes flashing with cockiness. Wait a minute… Oh, this was that Iffy guy from before, wasn’t it?

Well, even if he didn’t have anything against Iffy, Kevin wasn’t going to go easy. No way, he was just getting started.

Kevin jumped up to perform Aerial Ace, an attack he’d been practicing for a while for no reason in particular. He liked it for its quick and simple style, that and the fact it never missed, like, ever. Plus, it had come in handy in one gym battle, so why wouldn’t it in another? True to form, upon Kevin’s descent he managed to get Iffy’s shin and knock him a bit off balance.

Henry told his Pokémon to use Mach Punch, to which Kevin responded with his own quick fist as well. Meeting knuckle to knuckle, Kevin felt a very unpleasant sensation course through his hand and drew back quickly, jumping back to distance himself. Iffy was definitely a strong opponent, he’d give him that.

The battle continued on, with both sides taking little damage from each other’s attacks but being worn out from constantly dodging. Their fight had somehow monopolized the entire left half of the bridge, and a few angry commuters were shouting at them to move out of the way. Kevin laughed, smiled at them, and even learned a few new swear words to use.

It would’ve gone on longer if it weren’t for the fact that they were interrupted. If it weren’t for the insane amount of laughter emanating from the Raichu’s mouth, Kevin wouldn’t have paid him any attention, but here he was laughing his head off.

 _“Oh, don’t stop your fight because of me, boy!”_ said Chuno with glee, the Naturalist’s large teeth sparkling.


	20. Chapter 20

Kevin blinked. What the hell was _he_ doing here?

 _“S’matter? I told you not to stop… Ah, whatever,”_ said Chuno, grinning.

Regaining his composure, Kevin shook his head and addressed the Raichu. “Um, do you need something? ‘Cause I’m kinda in the middle of—”

 _“Yes! I do need something!”_ Chuno interrupted, his grin turning into a frown. _“Why would I be here if I didn’t? Anyway, boy, I really need to know; whose side are you on?”_

He blinked again. The crowd that was watching the battle still stood there, intrigued by the Naturalist’s conversation with him – not that they could understand him, of course, seeing as he talked in Pokémon. Kevin raised an eyebrow, glancing quickly back at Lana, Henry, and his opponent before answering.

“I… I don’t think I’m on a side or whatever—”

 _“You have to be,”_ Chuno persisted, _“so whose is it? Shady’s or mine?”_

When Kevin didn’t answer immediately, Chuno sighed and started to rant. _“Look here, boy. I’m not the only one wondering. The media wants to know, the public wants to know, and I’m sure Shady wants to know too. They’re saying you hate Shady but you’re striving for exactly what he wants, which makes no sense. So if you’d please clarify…?”_

“What? I’m not striving for anything! And even if I was, I sure as hell wouldn’t want a world like the one he wants!” Kevin growled.

 _“Then why are you going around battling gyms like you’re a trainer?”_ Chuno sighed.

“What’s wrong with doing that?” Kevin asked.

Chuno was about to reply, but he hesitated and started to squint in Kevin’s direction. _“Wait a minute, boy, do you even know who the Shade is?”_

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “Yes,” he said.

 _“Hmm,”_ Chuno muttered. _“Okay, then. If you’re telling the truth, this little one should be a cinch for you.”_ He smiled devilishly before reciting it in a singsong tune, in perfect human.

“Of shattered glass and horrid wounds,

Shady was not alone,

It took him quite many a moon,

To heal his broken bones.

His companion, by his side,

On every night so starry,

She vowed she would become his bride,

The turtle they called…”

“K-kari?” Kevin stuttered. What the hell…?

Chuno looked genuinely surprised. _“Huh… For your sake, I hope that wasn’t just a lucky guess.”_

He stared at Kevin for a moment before turning and bounding off to whence he came. Kevin stood there, blankly. His brain was having a difficult time taking in the poem Chuno had said. _Bride_?!

“Hey, Slick!” called Henry. Kevin turned, the blank look still on his face. “We’ll finish this some other time,” he said. Henry then returned his Infernape to his Pokéball and walked away. The crowd, sensing the commotion was over, started to disperse.

Kevin got the feeling that he needed to talk to Kari again.

*

Canalave Gym was a change of pace from the other gyms he’d seen. This one was built with an astoundingly high ceiling, complete with lifts that took the rider up to the very top where the leader’s arena lay. Kevin shuddered as he looked up; he didn’t want to know what would happen to somebody who accidentally fell off up there.

The gym was steel type, which meant that out of the whole team, Kevin was the only one who could do decent damage. True, Nini knew a fighting type move, Jump Kick, but she missed a lot and that made her crash painfully into her surrounding area. Due to that, Kevin had no choice but to recruit Cheri and Mist on the gym team, them being the only ones who did at least neutral damage with their main attacking types.

The ride to the top of the gym was less than perilous, thankfully. However, the looming figure of the gym leader made Kevin nervous. He was practically made of muscle. Kevin speculated that he must’ve been the kind of weirdo who trained with his Pokémon.

He quickly recalled the thought when he realized that he was being a hypocrite. The leader laughed heartily, smiling at them with a grin that would rival Chuno’s if not for the fact that his incisors weren’t as enormous and pointy.

 “Hello there! Welcome to the Canalave Gym. I’m Byron,” the man said. Kevin nodded in recognition.

“Right, I’m, uh, Slick,” he said. Okay, this guy had to be nine feet tall.

He smiled cheerily. “So I’ve heard! Is a standard three-knockout match all right with you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kevin replied. With everything on his mind lately, he didn’t know how well the match would go, but it was steel type… Even if the others failed, he could save them from a loss, right?

Byron sent out… something. To be honest, it didn’t look like it was alive to Kevin. He supposed the flat, circular, dark blue piece of floating metal reminded him of a Beldum, except not. The Pokémon, who looked genderless, did not blink or make a sound.

He glanced at Cheri behind him, sending her a look telling her that she’d be first. She nodded nervously, standing up straighter than she usually did. Kevin turned back to the opponent, who stared blankly at him.

As the fight began, a sudden thought struck him. He’d gotten used to all the other Pokémon speaking human, but he’d never actually found out how. And now, seeing this silent Pokémon (Byron called it Bronzor), Kevin wondered how widespread human was as a language.

Chuno didn’t speak it, but Kevin had gotten the impression that it was his choice not to. Everyone else he’d met spoke it, too, but they were mostly all young Pokémon who would’ve caught on while it was new, whenever that was. But was it possible that some Pokémon just _couldn’t_? That no matter what, communicating with them outside of their own language was impossible?

Kevin shook his head to clear his drifting thoughts away. What was with him lately? He used to be able to concentrate on battling no problem. He glared inwardly at himself and started to actually command the improvising Cheri.

“Spark,” he said, regretting it. Hadn’t she just learned something that wasn’t physical the other day? That would’ve been more effective against the ever-so-defensive steel type. Damn it, he was _battling_ …

Cheri obeyed without hesitation, slamming into Bronzor and sending a wave of electricity through its… body? Face? Whatever. Kevin took the opportunity to shout out a new command.

“Discharge,” he said, remembering the move’s name after a moment’s thought. Cheri was quick; her body was still crackling with the remnants of Spark, but she managed to use that to her advantage and discharge extra electricity. Kevin smirked. That was nice; maybe she wasn’t that useless after all.

Byron laughed. “Not bad, not bad,” he said. “Right then. Confuse Ray, Bronzor!”

Kevin frowned. “You confuse him first,” he said quickly to Cheri, who made a face.

“Excusé-moi? Non! Je ne s’embrasse pas… _Non_!” She glared at him. “Je refuse!”

“Wh— Oh, come on! Don’t argue with me now!” Kevin said indignantly, but it was too late. Bronzor, with a well-aimed Confuse Ray to the back of Cheri’s head, succeeded.

Byron raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing to Kevin. “Extrasensory.”

He grimaced as Cheri was hit with a mental attack. She cried out, hitting herself too. Great. Just great. He didn’t know exactly what she had complained about previously, but he had a feeling that her own confusion move, Sweet Kiss, was not one she liked to use on emotionless Beldum-lookalikes.

“Snap out of it and Discharge,” Kevin tried, his frown getting bigger. Okay, okay, he wouldn’t use Sweet Kiss on that thing either, given the choice. He was glad he didn’t have such a ridiculous move.

Cheri, under the influence of Confuse Ray, sent her attack flying towards Lana, who shrieked and ducked just in time to dodge. Kevin groaned. “Damn it…”

The battle did not get better. Cheri fainted soon after, Bronzor almost free of damage. Mist was able to finish him off, thankfully, and she did decently against the nigh monstrous Steelix who was next. Unfortunately, the Steelix had created a Sandstorm, which took its toll the longer it went on – on both Mist and Kevin himself.

Kevin sighed while Lana recalled Mist. Byron was undoubtedly saving his best for last, but he still had a shot. Aside from a bunch of rocks and sand pelting him, Kevin was still fresh out of the Pokémon Center. He cracked his knuckles and walked into the arena.

“So it’s your turn now, eh?” mused Byron, grinning. “Give me your best shot, kid.”

Kevin said nothing, instead trying to get his brain into battle mode. Steelix was defensive – almost unmatched. But while it was difficult to physically harm one, ranged moves worked quite well in comparison. Indeed, that was the reason he’d told Mist to use the usually less effective Water Gun rather than Aqua Jet.

Kevin licked his teeth. That wasn’t a problem; his Flamethrower was bound to do decent damage. Without a second thought, he sent a stream of flames towards the Steelix. His foe notably winced, to which Kevin grinned. What was there to worry about? Everything was in the bag.

He ran towards the massive steel snake to get him with a higher-powered close range shot, which ended up doing enough to knock Kevin’s opponent out. He smirked. Yeah, he was back into it now. Bring it on!

Byron was still smiling. “I love defense!” he shouted for no real reason before throwing his last Pokéball.

Emerging from the white light was something else Kevin had never laid eyes on before. He looked reptilian, but more dinosaur-like than Kari was and certainly not grass type. His head appeared to be a large, gray and yellow shield with eyes and a mouth more than anything. Well, okay. Byron obviously loved defense, so he’d just use Flamethrower on this thing, too.

“Iron Defense!” yelled Byron. He appeared to be getting exhilarated now that he was down to his last, and Kevin didn’t blame him. The dino-shield’s face shined metallic for a few seconds, then it faded away. It reminded Kevin of the hundreds of helpless Silcoon and Cascoon he had fried back home.

He smirked. He fired another Flamethrower directly at him, expecting it to do a lot. Surprisingly, the Pokémon merely absorbed it head on and shrugged it off, barely hurt.

…Huh.

He frowned. Byron told his Pokémon, Bastiodon, to keep using Iron Defense for a while, so he had to think quickly. High special defense, high regular defense… What would hurt this guy?

Maybe if he got a burn on him somehow. Yeah, he’d have to try to do that and whittle him down. That was how you took on tanks, right? Tanks had to be taken out slowly but surely, not all in one go like other Pokémon. Right…

As the sandstorm started to subside, Kevin got an idea. Fire Spin lingered afterwards, didn’t it? Maybe it could potentially cause a burn, at least, it’d be more likely to. Plus, even if it didn’t, it sort of acted like a light burn, right? Okay, Fire Spin.

The swirl of flames he spat out circled Bastiodon, though like before, he seemed unbothered. Kevin narrowed his eyes; he had to be relentless here.

Attack after attack, Kevin kept throwing flames at his opponent. Bastiodon rarely did anything other than glow metallic, though once Byron asked him to use Rest. Kevin realized what he was trying to do – Tire him out, make him so frustrated that he couldn’t attack. But he wouldn’t give in to that.

After a while he decided that ranged attacks weren’t working and that he should go for something physical, regardless of how many times Bastiodon had now shined. Brick Break after Brick Break to the face, back, legs, nothing was working.

With a growl, Kevin opted for a new tactic once again. True, he hadn’t tried the new move yet, but he hadn’t really used Fire Spin before either and it worked fine. It was worth another shot, nothing else was doing a thing.

So, Kevin used a move he recognized as Close Combat, one of the most impressive attacks he’d seen his grandmother use in the old Pokémon League tapes. Once again, it did almost nothing to Bastiodon, most likely because Iron Defense totally negated every punch and kick he threw. Arceus, if he didn’t get this over with soon, he’d knock himself out.

Byron was grinning triumphantly. “Catch him,” he said.

What? What the hell was he—

Bastiodon bit down on Kevin’s tail, and _hard_. He couldn’t help but utter a cry, it hurt like nothing he’d ever felt before. Bastiodon didn’t let go, instead crunching down even harder. _Damn it_.

“Go for it!” said Byron, still grinning. Kevin could barely see what else was happening, but he did see some rocks lift up mysteriously from the ground, kind of like Iffy’s Stone Edge…

Oh wait. They were glowing? That was Ancient Power.

Kevin swore as he was pelted by rocks. Today was not his day.

*

When he was finally able to have conscious thought again, he was back in his Pokéball. Near panicking, he wriggled around, trying to find the self-release mechanism to get out.

Lana was startled as he emerged, but quickly recovered. She regarded him with a sad smile. “Hey,” she said.

“We lost,” Kevin said. He winced. His tail still hurt excruciatingly.

“Oh, um, here,” Lana said, handing him a bandage. “Nurse Joy said that you should put that on your tail.”

Kevin turned his head to look at it and grimaced. Bastiodon had bit through the skin in most places, and there was a lot of dried blood around the wound. He twitched his tail and sent a shock of pain through his nervous system. Kevin hastily took the bandage and attempted to tie it.

“Thanks,” he muttered, before walking over to a nearby tree and sitting down. Before long, Kari had appeared from around the other side.

“Gym leaders can get away with doing that?” she asked, eying the parts of his tail he hadn’t tied yet. Kevin scoffed.

“It was a good gambit, though. The whole team is good,” he said sourly, finishing the knot. Kari said nothing, instead opting to sit down beside him.

After a pause, Kevin added, “We’re not strong enough. We need to train more—”

“We’ve already trained non-stop for a week, Kevin.”

He faced Kari, who was glaring at him. “We’re all tired. What we need is to take a break, all right? We have a month and a half until the league, I think we can afford to take a couple days off.”

Kevin frowned. “That doesn’t change the fact that I was beaten by a steel type. We’ve been getting by with quick thinking and strategizing, but our skills, er, _lack_ _of_ them have caught up to us,” he said. Kari turned away. Seeing as the conversation wasn’t going anywhere, Kevin thought that he might as well try and ask her about what had happened before the match.

“Hey, um, Chuno showed up today,” he said, trying to sound absentminded.

“And? What did he want?” asked Kari with boredom. Kevin sighed. He was bad at wording things, but he supposed that Kari could take it bluntly.

“Oh, nothing important,” Kevin drawled. “He did say some sort of poem thing about the Shade though… And, uh, about you.”

Kari raised an eyebrow. “Me?” she asked, clearly perplexed.

“Yeah, um, something like… ‘She vowed she would become his bride, the turtle they called Kari’…” he trailed off as Kari’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What?” Her voice was low, almost a whisper. She turned her head to the ground. “Why would he tell him— _What_?”

Sensing an opportunity, Kevin continued. “He mentioned something about glass and injuries and stuff too. Kari, what was he talking about?” Kari was still wide eyed, breathing softly.

A moment passed, then she closed her eyes and spoke in a harsh, but quiet tone. “One of our early escape plans, maybe the third one or so… It involved breaking a window. It— It didn’t work.”

Kevin heard the shudder in her voice. Before he could say anything, she went on.

“M-my eye… He nearly died… Why would he tell someone like _Chuno_ about that?!” Kari’s shaking voice became almost hysterical; it made Kevin jump. She attempted to take a deep breath, but failed.

“Kari… Hey, calm down—”

“How can I calm down?! If Chuno knows, the whole world knows! We promised— _He_ promised me that he’d never tell anyone about it! He’s not even decent enough to keep _that_ a secret now?! _Dear_ …”

She’d broken down into sobs now. Kevin awkwardly sat beside her, offering no words or actions of comfort. He had a feeling that Kari would reject them all, anyway. It went on for at least ten minutes, her tears finally dying down after a while.

Kevin gulped down the sourness in his throat. He had to do something. He felt guiltier with each passing second. He attempted to place his hand on her head, awkwardly patting it while she let out the occasional sob.

Slowly, she looked at him, teary eyed. “I still don’t understand,” she said, her voice still wavering, “how you think you’re so different, and yet you’re both the same.”

At that point, Kevin realized that he was out of place. Kari didn’t really need him right now.

No, the one she needed was the real _Dear_.


	21. Chapter 21

Kari was still upset in the morning, and there wasn’t much Kevin could do about it. He’d never tried to comfort anyone before, and seeing as he wasn’t any help the night before, he felt that he should let her have her space.

Instead, today he was going to form a new training plan. He’d asked Lana if there were any particular spots people went to for toughening up, and she’d replied that she’d heard of some island that was popular for that purpose. After expressing interest in going there, Lana quickly looked up the name of the island on her phone for him. He didn’t know why her phone knew the island’s name, but whatever.

They called it Iron Island. According to Lana’s phone, it had been an old mine for many generations. When the iron ore ran out, the place was abandoned, and wild Pokémon had taken up residence. Somebody went there for a visit and discovered it was a great training spot, so ever since, trainers had been using the island when they needed to boost their strength.

The team appeared to be a bit weary when Kevin announced their next destination, but none of them outright opposed it. He was thankful for that. The last thing he wanted was everyone to hate him for working them so hard.

Since it was an island, the team had to take a boat. The ferry offering the service had a policy that so long as a Pokémon was outside his or her Pokéball, an additional ticket would need to be purchased (thanks Mr. Shade), so Kevin reluctantly went inside his again. It wasn’t like he was in storage and not aging or anything. Kari had convinced him about that. But now that he knew what had happened, the black void of nothing that was the Pokéball felt cold and empty.

In the darkness, Kevin found himself remembering what Kari had said to him. Not the part about him and the Shade being almost the same, that was nothing new, but about her encounter with a broken window. She hadn’t been clear about what happened at all, and despite her getting all upset over remembering it, he couldn’t help but be curious about the details.

She said the Shade almost died. That was interesting. Whatever had happened, it left Kari with a useless left eye, so he wondered what the Shade had suffered. Maybe he was half blind too? Or perhaps he’d sustained completely different injuries… In that case, though, why would that supermarket clerk mistake Kevin for the Shade way back whenever? Surely she’d have seen that he was perfectly fine. Save the new scar on his tail, of course.

Kevin was released from his Pokéball. Lana was tossing everyone else’s respective Pokéballs to the ground, letting them out too. “Okay Slickky,” she said, “what exactly are we doing?”

“Um…” Kevin said. He hadn’t really devised a plan, what with his thoughts on Kari. Shaking his head, he turned around and surveyed the area to buy some time. “Let’s see what Pokémon live here first, then split up into groups.”

Iron Island was basically a giant cave. That meant that Graveler and their ilk were a sure thing, and thus Cheri and Styler were going to have difficulties inside. Conversely, Kari and Mist would have a field day. Kevin supposed that he and Nini could use their fighting type moves to get by. All right, then, simple.

“Lana, you stay with Cheri and Styler outside.” He glanced at the water. “Try battling the fish. Mist and Nini, you two work as a team inside the cave, and I’ll work with Kari.”

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you, Chump?” said Kari. He crossed his arms.

“Shut up,” said Kevin. He had no idea why she’d suddenly reverted back to calling him Chump, though he supposed that it was better than _dear_. He motioned for her to follow him inside.

The cave was dark, light enough that even without the flame on Kevin’s tail, he’d be able to see properly. It was also very mazelike inside, however. Kevin had a feeling that he’d get lost easily if he weren’t careful.

“Where to?” Kari asked him. He shrugged.

“I don’t know. Anywhere without Golbat…” He bit his lip when he realized that he’d forgotten they were both weak to flying Pokémon.

“So you _did_ just want me on your team. All right, Kevin, what do you want to know?” She smiled at him.

Kevin blinked. True, he did have stuff to ask her about. Maybe he’d teamed up with her subconsciously or something. He started walking deeper into the cave. “Well, you weren’t that clear on— on what actually happened with the window,” he said.

Surprisingly, Kari didn’t have much of a reaction. “I figured it was something like that. I guess when I spilled my heart out to you last night, I didn’t actually spill that much.”

“Er…” Nonchalant Kari was a pretty abrupt mood change from bawling Kari.

“It was like this: we’d been trying escape plan after escape plan for about a year, but none of them worked. We finally considered using a window, which I thought was too risky before. I was right.” She looked away distantly before continuing. “He tried superheating the glass to melt it, but Rowan was coming back, so he tried punching it to speed up the process. And then his arm went right through. He tried pulling it out, but then the upper half of the windowpane shattered. He was surprised, lost his balance, and fell down on some jagged pieces still left in the bottom of the frame. One of the shattered pieces landed on my eye. That’s what happened.”

Kevin said nothing.

“It was horrible. I thought he was dead. He was in the hospital for two weeks without waking up. I—” Kari shuddered and gritted her teeth. “That was when I told him I loved him. And to know that Chuno knows that now is so _infuriating_ … So you see, Kevin, that’s why I got upset.”

Kevin nodded slowly. “Okay. I’m sorry,” he said.

“What? What are you sorry for?” Kari asked, her head snapping up in confusion.

He shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know. It just seems that I’m getting too involved with your personal life, and, uh, I really don’t think that I should’ve asked about any of that, and—”

“Whoa. Slow down, Kevin,” Kari squinted at him. “Are you actually trying to _not_ be a brash and arrogant jerk face?”

Kevin frowned. “Well… Yeah, I guess.”

Kari stopped in her tracks and stared at him. “Please don’t,” she said.

“What? You want me to be mean?” Kevin said in confusion. Arceus, if this was what all girls were like—

“I don’t want you to try and be him, okay? Because despite your similarities, you’re different. Very different. And I need to remember that,” She narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular.

He blinked. “I’m not trying to be like him,” Kevin said indignantly. It was true, he wasn’t. And right now, he was going to avoid this subject by as large of a margin as possible, because it was quickly leading into something he did not wish to talk about. “Do you see any Graveler?”

“No, I don’t,” she said breezily. “Have you been paying any attention to where we’ve been going, by any chance?”

“No,” Kevin said. Oh, damn it.

“Oh, this is wonderful. I’m getting flashbacks of Eterna Forest,” Kari said, smiling. Kevin was getting flashbacks, too; she was being creepy again.

“We were never lost in Eterna,” he said, scanning the area grumpily. If this was such a great training spot, where was everybody?

She chuckled. “We weren’t friends in Eterna, either. Funny, it seems so long ago, but it hasn’t been that long, has it?”

Kevin squinted. He thought he saw something move up on a ledge, but his poor vision wasn’t doing him any justice. “Hey, Kari, did you see that?” He pointed at the ledge for emphasis.

“That blue thing?” she asked. “Hm, I don’t know what that is.” The smudge of blue Kevin could barely make out quickly disappeared from view.

“So it’s not a Golbat?” he asked. She nodded.

“Looked more like a… Well, like a bipedal mammal, at any rate. Want me to Razor Leaf ‘em?” Kari turned her head to him.

“If you can reach them, go ahead,” said Kevin. He grinned. Finally, some training.

Kari took on a battle stance and shot two leaves from the bushes on her back towards the place the blue smudge used to be. Kevin couldn’t tell if she hit it or not, but she didn’t seem to think so. She fired another pair of sharp leaves almost immediately.

Kevin saw the blue smudge leap up, arcing its jump towards them. It landed two feet in front of them, quite angry looking.

“A Lucario? I didn’t think you’d live in a cave,” Kevin said to the Pokémon. Now that he could see him, it was easy to identify the canine Pokémon.

The Lucario put his hands on his hips. “What do you tourists want?” he asked, rather annoyed.

“A way out would be nice,” said Kari, “if you don’t mind.”

“And a battle, please,” Kevin quickly added.

The Lucario frowned. “I can show you to the exit, but I’m afraid that I can’t battle you. I only battle when somebody is injured and needs my help to get out and receive medical attention.” He paused, eyeing them. “Besides, two against one is hardly fair.”

Kevin’s shoulders drooped. “Is there anyone else in this cave who will battle me?”

The Lucario blinked. “There’s a sign at the front directing you to the main chamber, where most trainers usually go. Didn’t you see it?”

Kevin opened his mouth a little and then closed it. He narrowed his eyes at Kari. “Well, Kari, didn’t you?”

“Obviously if I did, we’d be there. Let’s just go,” she said. The Lucario nodded and lead the two through the cave, back up to the top level.

*

“Well, here we are. As you can see, many of the wild Pokémon will battle you if the regular trainers aren’t satisfactory. Do you need anything else?” The Lucario smiled helpfully. Kevin wondered if he ever got tired of being so nice on the job.

“No thank you,” said Kari. The Lucario turned to leave.

“Hello, Kari and Slickky!” called Mist. She and Nini walked up to them. “Where have you two been? I thought you would have come here first.”

Kari scoffed. “Mm. Hotshot got us lost,” she said. Kevin snorted.

“You’re the one who didn’t see the sign!” he said indignantly before noticing Nini staring blankly into space. “Yo. Nini. What are you looking at?”

Instead of answering, she meandered over to the Lucario guide, ignoring everything else. Kevin and the two girls stared after her, none of them having a clue as to what was going on. Nini tapped the Lucario’s arm, and he turned around.

“Yes? Can I help you, miss?” he said, squatting down to meet her eye level. She continued to stare at him for a few moments, then, without any warning, she grabbed his face and kissed him.

Kevin’s jaw dropped. Kari raised an eyebrow. Mist muttered “Oh my…”. The Lucario stared at the Buneary in front of him, wide eyed. Then, Nini started to evolve.

She grew much taller, and her ears got much bigger. Her overall body shape became more humanlike as she reached the Lucario’s height. As the glow faded away, Nini, newly evolved, hugged the Lucario and smiled contently.

“I’ve found you,” she breathed. “You’re the one I’ve been looking for.”

The Lucario blinked. “D-do I even know you…?” He was blushing furiously; Kevin didn’t blame him, that girl was _hot_.

“No,” she replied, snuggling closer. “What’s your name?”

“…Lucaru,” he muttered.

“I love you, Lucaru.” She sighed dreamily.

Kevin found the scene more and more ridiculous to watch. He gabbed Kari by one of her bushes and dragged her further into the cave, shaking his head in the process. Mist followed them after a moment’s hesitation.

Today was so weird.


	22. Chapter 22

“Hey, um, Slick?” asked Mist after an hour or two. Kevin, who had been glancing around for yet another opponent, turned to her.

“Yeah? What is it?” he asked breezily. Come on, somebody that wasn’t a Golbat…

“How come yours and Kari’s personality didn’t change when you evolved, but Styler’s and Nini’s did?” she asked. Er… What?

Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. How was he supposed to know? He wasn’t a professor or anything. Seeing Mist’s face, though, he decided to make a makeshift explanation. “It probably depends on the species or something. Or how long you’ve been in that evolution stage.”

Mist frowned. “But Slick, how do I know if my personality will change? I don’t want it to…”

Kevin shrugged again. “Sorry, Mist, but I really don’t have a clue. But judging by Styler and Nini, personality change doesn’t seem to be a bad thing. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Mist sighed, thanked him, and then walked away to find an opponent for herself. Kari, who had just finished battling yet another Graveler, walked up to Kevin. She was chuckling.

“Yeesh, Chump, what did you say to her?” Kari asked, smiling.

Kevin shrugged yet again. “Nothing! She just started asking about evolving and personality changes, and I didn’t know, so I told her I didn’t.” Kari was shaking her head. “What?”

“She has a crush on you, d-Kevin,” Kari said. They both mutually decided to ignore the almost-dear without a word, but it took Kevin a second to process the actual sentence.

“Wait, what?” he asked. This was new.

“She’s been thinking that you’re cute ever since you became something of a celebrity,” Kari explained, “as I’m sure many other girls are. The same thing happened when _he_ became famous… Though I believe he’s gotten far more attention than you have.”

“Really?” Kevin asked, raising his eyebrows. He found this hard to believe. For one, he was pretty sure he looked like his father, which would mean he looked uncanny, not cute. Secondly… The notion was just absurd. People hardly liked him, let alone _liked_ him.

Kari smiled knowingly. “Look, Kevin, it doesn’t matter what you look like if you’re famous, there’s always going to be some people harbouring unrequited love for you. That seems to be the rule, anyway. Most of these people will be young preteens, unfortunately,” She laughed. “Though I suppose since you’re still fourteen, that isn’t a bad thing for you.”

Kevin frowned. “Right. No.” Once again, he was discussing _that subject_ with Kari. Last time he checked, Kevin thought Kari was ten years older than him. And a _turtle_.

Kari seemed to remember this, as she quickly shut up and went to go battle somebody. Kevin looked around, finally found someone he hadn’t already challenged that day, and went to battle them.

As Kevin started fighting his new opponent (a hefty Steelix, who would be good practice for the gym), he found himself wondering about the Shade. He hadn’t really learned anything new in the past little while, and it was bugging him. So the Shade almost died. Okay. And? He didn’t see how this knowledge would help him at all.

Well… He did get confirmation of Kari’s creepy love for the Shade, though. He’d guessed that she liked him before, but hearing her say it was true made him uncomfortable. What would have had to happen between a Monferno and a Turtwig for them to fall in love? Surely trying to escape a laboratory together couldn’t bring two completely different species together like that. Could it? Maybe it depended on the people involved.

So. The story was as follows: The Shade somehow got captured by Professor Rowan, and wanted to escape. Kari, who also wanted to escape, started working together with him. The two broke a window, got horribly injured but survived, and fell in love. Then the Shade decided to be a dick and left her at the lab so he could escape on his own. Then he got famous for… er…

He’d forgotten to clear up whatever vague Pokémon rights thing they did. He knew they’d been changing laws around to try and be more fair and whatever, but how did they get to the point where people listened to them?

…That would probably have something to do with everyone’s ability to speak human, too. He’d almost forgotten it wasn’t normal since it was so widespread in Sinnoh. Hmm, he had plenty of things to ask Kari. Kevin just prayed she wouldn’t get upset again.

He concluded his battle and his thoughts with a satisfying Close Combat attack, a move he’d become fond of. It was the most powerful attack he’d ever used, and it was awesome to move at the speed of light delivering punches and kicks this way and that. It left him kind of fatigued after using it, but that drawback wasn’t too big of a concern, at least not for his battle style.

Kevin stretched for a minute, taking a break. If it weren’t so cold (on an _island_ , no less), Iron Island wouldn’t be too bad of a place to live. Tourists were plentiful, meaning he had an endless supply of fresh opponents to tackle. The only downside would be the lack of food. He wondered how the Golbat lived. Could they suck blood from the Graveler somehow?

“Slick?” he heard someone say. He turned towards the voice and widened his eyes.

Mist had evolved. She had grown tall, much taller than Kevin, and the yellow ring that used to be around the Buizel’s neck was now larger and went around her back. Other than that, though, she seemed to just be a bigger version of a Buizel.

“I evolved… Um, Slick, I don’t think my personality changed, I mean, I still think the same and I speak the same but my voice sounds weird,” she rambled.

Kevin blinked a few times. “Er… that’s good, then! You must be way stronger, too!” He felt very awkward looking up to see her face. Maybe it was because up until now, he’d been the tallest member of the team at a _whopping_ three feet. Wait, no, Nini was taller than him now, too. Arceus, the world must look so different from such a high point of view.

Mist nodded. “I think so, yes… I’m sorry, Slick, I would have evolved sooner but I was worried I was going to change—”

“It’s all right! Really! There’s nothing to worry about, okay? How about you go outside and take a break?” Kevin said, awkwardly hand waving.

“Well… okay,” Mist said, scurrying out of Iron Island’s stadium. Kevin sighed with relief. If he remembered correctly, Mist was only about twelve years old. Talking to somebody two years younger than him yet at least half a foot taller than him? Yeah, awkward.

So, two evolutions in one day. Not bad! He wondered how Styler was doing. Actually, Kari, too. She hadn’t told him if she’d decided to evolve again or not. Kevin knew she didn’t really want to, because apparently her evolution was a slow, hulking tank that she didn’t want to be. He didn’t blame her. A part-human Infernape was hardly a rose, either.

He looked around, trying to place the grass type reptilian. He couldn’t see very well, but with squinting he could make out a green and yellow blob fighting… a Golbat. Why had she gone and taken on one of them? He sighed, making his way over to her.

As he got closer, it became clear that she hadn’t initiated the fight. The Golbat was steadily backing her into a wall, mouth open wide, not that that was unusual. Kari was glaring at the Golbat.

 _“I’m not fighting you. I already told you that,”_ she said, baring her herbivorous teeth. The carnivorous bat chuckled.

 _“And I already told you I’m hungry, toots,”_ the Golbat backed her in closer to the wall.

 _“You can’t just eat me!”_ Kari said indignantly. She didn’t seem to be that serious, though. _“Go eat whatever you usually eat!”_

 _“Graveler skin is such a pain to sink you fangs into, though,”_ said the Golbat.

 _“Mine’s hardly better!”_ said Kari.

Kevin laughed. “You want some help, there?” he called to Kari.

She eyed him and grunted. “No. You can’t take a Golbat,” she said bluntly.

Kevin was taken aback. “Yes I can!” he said, frowning.

“Oh, really? So you’ve been avoiding them all this time for no reason, then? I can handle it, Kevin.” She looked intently at the Golbat.

 _“Ho hum. I’ll feed your friend to my kids, I guess,”_ said the Golbat. She then plummeted into a dive, going for Kari’s neck.

Kari tucked her head in, an action that reminded Kevin a little bit of a Sandshrew’s defense mechanisms. The Golbat missed her head completely, crashing into the rocky ground. Kari stomped her foot on her enemy’s back, causing her to whine. She held her there, not letting her move more than her wings.

“Honestly, Kevin. I may be lab-bred but I have survival instincts when I need them. Don’t tell me you never had any predators in Petalburg Woods.” Kari pressed the Golbat into the ground a little more.

“I… All the Swellow ever ate were Wurmple! There wasn’t anything big enough to eat me!” Kevin said, crossing his arms. He doubted he had any survival instincts beyond the lacking ones of a human being, anyway.

Kari sighed. “At any rate, you should learn to take on types you have trouble with. Otherwise, you’ll get nowhere at the League.” Kevin raised an eyebrow.

“Are you seriously trying to give me battling advice, Kari?” he asked, incredulous. “Since when did you battle competitively?”

“I’m just saying that if someone like me can take down an opponent with the advantage, you of all people should be able to, too,” Kari said, her expression stoic.

“You hardly took her down! All you did was step on her!” Kevin exclaimed, pointing at the Golbat, who was flapping her wings in frustration, trying to get out from under Kari’s foot.

Kari scoffed. “Fine. I’ll take her down, then,” she said. She surprised Kevin by biting the Golbat’s head nonchalantly. He heard a sickening crack, and the Golbat went limp.

“…Did you just—?” Kevin asked, horrified.

Kari grimaced. “No…” She spat something out. “I broke off a tooth. Ugh. Don’t make me do that ever again,” she said.

Kevin shuddered. “Fine. Just do me a favour and never bite anyone anymore, got it? It’s totally gross.”

She nodded. She was about to speak when she winced. She seemed to be shivering, or at least shaking uncontrollably.

“Kari? What’s wrong?” asked Kevin, walking up closer to her. Kari shivered more intensely.

She tried to say something again and failed. Instead, she started glowing. “Hey! You’re just evolving, what’s the matter?” Kevin tried. She glared at him.

The glow faded, then reappeared stronger, then faded a little again. She was fighting off evolution as best as she could, but evolution seemed to be winning. Kevin bit his lip.

“Ah… Come on, you can do it.” Kevin didn’t really know what to do; or if he even could do anything. Kari was trying to say something still, but he had no idea what it could be. Finally, the glow overcame her body and shone brightly.

She grew larger, bigger than Kevin would’ve thought. Her shell, which had seemed to be attached to her neck when she evolved into a Grotle previously, was now detached again. The bushes on her back both turned into completely different things, one a set of rocks and the other a large, bonsai-like tree. The golden spikes adorning her jaw grew larger as well. When the glow faded, all traces of her yellow shell had completely vanished, and Kari was now a behemoth of a turtle.

Kari shuddered, blinking rapidly. She shifted her feet a little, getting used to her new weight. She sighed. “Oh, this is _wonderful_.” Her voice was deeper and croakier, though surprisingly still somewhat feminine.

Kevin stood there. “So…” he said, getting the feeling that Kari was mad at him.

“Somebody who can’t read words should at least try reading lips!” Kari growled, eyeing him in the creepy way only a reptilian creature could. “If you had knocked me out, I would have stopped evolving! That’s what I was trying to tell you!”

“W-well I’m sorry! I didn’t know that and you couldn’t speak!” Kevin said, narrowing his eyes.

She growled again, eyeing him maliciously. Then, after a moment of glaring, she stomped the ground, causing a small shockwave to rumble through the ground and knock Kevin off his feet. “Hmph. Somehow, being able to beat you up with Earthquake isn’t enough of a consolation prize,” she said.

“Earthquake?” Kevin questioned, bringing a hand up to massage his head. “What, you’re suddenly ground type now?”

“Yes, I believe so. What, is that going to hurt your ego?” she said in amusement. Well, at least she wasn’t hissing at him.

Kevin ran through what he’d memorized of the type chart in his head. “Well, I don’t think that changes anything much, but… Grass and ground, huh? That’s not a bad type combo. If you ignore the weakness to ice, that is,” Kevin said.

“But we’ve got you for that,” Kari said.

“Yeah, we do,” he concurred.

Kari smirked. “Hm. That’s fine and all, but you’re not the giant tortoise who can only move one tenth the speed of what she used to. But… there’s no use crying over it if I can’t change it, I suppose. My training here is done, then.”

“Uh… ‘kay. Let’s get out of here,” Kevin said. The two walked (slowly) out of the underground stadium and out through the main entrance of the cave. After a few minutes of lumbering along in which Kevin whole-heartedly agreed he’d take speed over power any day, they finally reached where Lana was with Cheri and Styler at the shoreline.

Kevin’s eyes widened yet _again_ as he saw that Styler had evolved as well. “Hey, Slick! How do I look?” the large avian asked him cheerily. Had he regressed back to his personality as a Starly or something?

Kevin shrugged. He felt very small, now. Mere hours ago, he’d been the one everyone else was looking up to. Now, the only one he towered over was Cheri, and that didn’t help much. “Awesome. I guess all we needed was another solid day of grinding, then?”

“Looks like. We all seem to be around the same level if we’ve all evolved at the same time, right?” asked Kari.

Kevin nodded. “That’s good. An even team is one you can count on,” he said. Thinking back, that’s probably why Canalave Gym didn’t work so well before. Everyone counted on him, meaning that when he failed, there was nothing they could do. Hadn’t Uncle Nick told him that was one of the most important rules of battling? Well, he certainly wasn’t going to forget that again any time soon.

He looked back at the cave entrance. “We should go get Mist and Nini, I guess,” he suggested.

Styler flapped his large, gray wings. “I’ll go,” he offered, looking like he just wanted an excuse to test them out.

When Styler finally came back with Mist in tow, he was frowning. Kevin was about to ask about Nini, but Kari beat him to the punch.

“Where’s Little Miss Cottontail?” she asked.

Styler frowned further. “Mm, well… That’s kind of a problem,” he said.

Mist nodded, her expression similar. “She doesn’t want to leave,” she said.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “She seriously wants to battle more?”

“No, that’s not it,” Mist said, shaking her head. “Um… Nini doesn’t want to leave that nice tour guide,” she said.

Kari blinked. “You can’t be serious,” she said, her tone quickly becoming rather poisonous. Kevin was glad it wasn’t directed at him for once.

Styler looked at Kari helplessly. “We tried dragging her off, but she wouldn’t let go! She kept saying that that Lucario was her soul mate and refused to leave!”

Kari shook her head slowly. “Has she lost her mind? Come on, Kevin, we need to talk some sense into this girl,” she grumbled, stalking off heavily.

“Uh… I guess?” said Kevin. He didn’t know why he was being dragged along, but he figured Kari knew more about the situation than he would and had a good reason for it. He followed her, struggling to match her slow pace.

…Something about this wasn’t going to be good, he could tell.


	23. Chapter 23

Storming into the cave in anger, Kari made her way through the crowds quite easily. Kevin supposed that being a large, ferocious-looking tortoise had its perks in some ways. He couldn’t help but feel a bit unsettled by Kari’s behaviour, though. Why did she care what Nini did?

Kari soon arrived in the training area of the cavern. Nini was curled up with the Lucario tour guide near the entrance, fawning over him in a way that was both sickening and… kind of cute. It was probably nicer to be on the receiving end of it than to have to watch it. Kevin tried not to pay them much attention.

Stomping her foot, Kari sent a ripple through the ground to make a weak Earthquake. Kevin, Nini and the Lucario all shuddered collectively. Narrowing her eyes, Kari shot a look at the rabbit.

“What is your problem?” she asked rudely, stepping closer to the pair.

Nini looked utterly bewildered. “What do you mean?” she asked.

The turtle scoffed and sent a look to the ceiling. “One minute you’re bawling about how life isn’t fair and how you wish you could just go home and mope, and the next you’re in this sickening fantasy that everything’s all right now? You don’t even know this guy, Nini! And you expect him to make you happy all of a sudden? And what about the team?”

Nini blinked slowly, and then stood up. Folding her arms in front of her chest, she sent a cold stare in Kari’s direction. “I couldn’t care less about the team. I hate battling anyway. But love makes everything better, Miss Kari. Just because your heart hasn’t been graced with the emotion doesn’t mean—”

“You know nothing about me. Hell, you don’t even know anything about love! You’re infatuated, not in love,” said Kari sternly.

Kevin inched his way behind Kari. Why had she even asked him to be a part of this? All he had succeeded at so far was standing there, looking awkward. And it was obvious she didn’t need any input from him in her lecture.

“Miss Kari, are you a Lopunny?” asked Nini.

“Do I look like one?” Kari retorted.

Nini pointed dramatically at Kari with a look of disgust on her face. “Exactly! My perception of love is different than yours! I said I’d only say it once, remember? My species has been this way for as long as anyone can remember, so unless you want to accuse us all of being ‘infatuated’, you should just leave me alone with my darling Lucaru and get out!”

Kari let out a low and threatening growl, causing Nini to falter slightly and frown. Without a word, the turtle managed to pivot on her back heel and gestured to Kevin to follow her. He did so reluctantly, not wanting to be in either female’s presence at the moment.

The walk back was slow and quiet. Tension grating at him, Kevin attempted to dissolve the awkward silence.

“So…”

That was all she needed. In a harsh, low voice, Kari growled, “Honestly. Nobody thinks rationally anymore! Just wait, Cheri’s going to decide she wants to speak Latin. Just because. And then she’ll say, ‘Oh, but it’s the way my species is!’ That’s no excuse. Really—”

“Hey, Kari?” Kevin asked, interrupting her. She blinked a few times, seemingly stunned he’d cut her off.

“What?” Kari said, her eyes wide in confusion.

Kevin frowned and put his hands behind his head. “Um… You know you’re different from other people, right? But… You should remember that other people are different from you.” It was a different context, but Kevin thought quoting her fit pretty well.

She frowned. “Kevin…”

“I’m just saying. You called yourself defective, didn’t you?” Kevin frowned as well, keeping his eyes at the nearing exit of the cave.

She stopped short. Kevin backed up a few paces.

“You said you weren’t trying to be like him. And you’re telling the truth?” Kari’s blind eye seemed to be looking at him just as well as her other one.

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “ _Yes_ ,” he said. There wasn’t any clearer way to put it.

She shook her head and proceeded towards the exit. “I can’t fathom why you hate each other so much,” she muttered. Kevin let her walk ahead enough until she was out of earshot.

“…Because I have blue eyes and that makes me a freak. Uncle Mono hated me first.” He then trotted to her side and walked out the cave.

*

“But Slick, I don’t get it,” said Mist. Kevin groaned.

Since Kari wasn’t in the greatest of moods, he was the one stuck explaining why Nini wasn’t leaving. He’d been through the story thrice already, and he was starting to get sick of it.

“Yeah,” agreed Styler, “it doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t? I’ve told you everything. She never even liked battling in the first place,” said Kevin irritably. He stretched his arms and looked out the window of the ferry, cringing at the sight of so much hazardous water. (They’d taken a different company’s this time, to get a better deal.) He almost wanted to go in his Pokéball… But Lana was in the bathroom at the moment.

Mist frowned. “Why was Kari so upset?” she asked.

He blinked, then shrugged quickly. “I don’t know,” he muttered.

“Come on,” said Styler, ruffling his feathers.

“Oui! Elle est ta petite amie, ta meuf, non?” added Cheri.

He raised his eyebrow. “Uh… what? No? Look, guys, if you want to know, ask her yourself. I’m not her best friend or— or her little friend or whatever you just said. I’m just trying to get to the Battle Frontier.” Everyone seemed disappointed, but that didn’t matter. Kari would kill him if he went and told everyone her secrets. And he wasn’t going to do that to his only friend.

Kevin got up out of his seat and leaned with his back against the window, not wanting to see the churning waves any longer. He sighed with boredom; this boat trip was taking too long. He glanced around the small room, hoping to find something to do. All he could see was a radio, but it was better than nothing.

“Could somebody turn that on?” he asked, gesturing to it. “Just some music or whatever, I don’t care.”

Mist nodded and turned on the radio. Immediately, a song was playing, though Kevin didn’t recognize it. It was… different, to say the least.

“…What is this?” he asked, his ears unaccustomed to the heavy baseline and synthesizer rhythms. He stared at the radio, perplexed.

Mist tilted her head. “You said music, didn’t you?” Kevin blinked.

“Yeah, but…” He suddenly remembered he was ten years in the future. Music had to have changed over the last decade. Still, it was weird. It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that good, either. Deciding against voicing a potentially hazardous opinion, he opted for a different angle. “Um, I meant the song’s name. That’s all.”

Styler answered. “It’s called ‘Trainer’s Eyes’. You haven’t heard it yet?”

Kevin frowned. “No, uh… I guess different stuff’s popular in Hoenn.” He walked over to the radio. “What else is on?”

He started to fiddle with the tuners, hoping to find at least something he was familiar with. He wasn’t having much luck as bits and pieces of lyrics flew out of the speakers in a jumble.

“ _We’re on the road to_ —”

“… _all I’ve got to do is believe_ —”

“ _Golden smile and silver tears_ —”

_“I don’t care if he’s not taking sides. He can be his own separate party, it’s fine.”_

Kevin stopped messing with the knob on the radio and listened. If he wasn’t mistaken, that was the Shade’s voice speaking.

 _“You must be at least a little curious, though,”_ said another voice. Kevin thought it sounded like the reporter from the previous interview, what with her overenthusiastic tone. _“Our sources tell us that Slick has expressed disdain at a world like the one you want. What does that mean to you?”_

 _“It means what you think it means. Apparently my goals aren’t to his liking,”_ said the Shade. He sounded quite bored.

The reporter just kept digging. _“But if he’s not a Naturalist, then what are this ‘Slick’s’ opinions?”_

The Shade sighed. _“Would I really know that?”_

 _“You implied in an earlier interview that you knew who he was after we told you what he looks like,”_ said the reporter. _“So? Were you bitter rivals? Childhood friends?”_

 _“…You could say that,”_ said the Shade after a pause.

Kevin scoffed. He’d only ever met his uncle once, and Uncle Mono was hardly a child then. Try forty-something. Wait… How old was the Shade supposed to be, anyway? That just made Kari’s affection for him even worse.

The reporter tried a different angle. _“I don’t want to be putting words into your mouth, Mr. Shade, so I’ll ask you to answer clearly. What is your relation to the Monferno known as Slick?”_

If Kevin were the Shade at that moment, he’d have punched the reporter in the face and told her that it was none of her damn business. The lack of any sound effects told him the Shade didn’t do the same. Instead, he seemed to be taking a breath.

 _“All right. We’re family. As much as he tries to deny it sometimes.”_ Kevin raised an eyebrow. The other way around would be a bit more accurate, wouldn’t it?

 _“But how are you related, Mr. Shade? Is he your cousin? Nephew? Long lost son?”_ Kevin stifled a laugh, though he was having difficulty.

 _“Long lost— seriously, Roxy?! Stell, what did you— No! I’m not discussing any more of this with the public,”_ the Shade said sharply. Kevin laughed as the interview ended, cutting off with a hasty thank you and quickly turning into some other people talking.

Kevin grinned. “Oh, I bet that killed him… _Long lost son_!” He laughed again.

Mist wandered up in front of him. “Slick!” she said, getting his attention. “You never said anything about this!”

Kevin blinked. “About what?”

“About you being related to the Shade! _The_ Shade! Why didn’t you tell any of us?” Huh, so Mist was a Shady fangirl too? Who would have thought?

Styler nodded vigorously. “Yeah! And I thought you were a Naturalist… I’m so sorry!”

Blinking more, Kevin raised an eyebrow. “S-sorry… I didn’t realize it was that important,” he muttered. Mist, Styler and Cheri crowded him, all asking questions. Cheri pushed herself to the front.

In very clear English, she said, “What is the Shade to you?”

“Wha— Oh, you mean… He’s my uncle,” Kevin said. “Um, he kind of hates me, though. Calls my dad and I demons and stuff.” Kevin could hardly believe he was saying it. But… He trusted these three. At least, he trusted them enough not to go parading the information around.

They all stared at him expectantly, so he continued. “Um, it’s a long story, but basically, uh, his sister is my mom and— You know what? He just hates us. Nothing else to it.” They continued to stare, but he didn’t have much else to say.

“Wow…” Mist breathed. “So, if you don’t agree with his ideas… You don’t want Pokémon to have more rights?”

“Ah! No! I mean, um, yeah, we should have more rights and stuff, but he wants to make it so that Pokémon are superior to humans, and that’s bad,” Kevin said, noticing he was sweating.

Mist frowned. “But isn’t that what the Naturalists want?”

“I thought they just wanted to go back to being wild Pokémon with no ties to humans,” Kevin said in confusion. That’s what was explained to him back in October, wasn’t it…?

Styler interrupted. “No, no, the Naturalists want to cut off human influences entirely. And I mean entirely, the leader’s out for blood. But the Shades just want equal rights for Pokémon and humans.” Cheri shook her head.

“Mais non! Les Naturalistes only want les Pokémon et humans to live separately, et le Shade est le bloodthirsty one,” she said quite confidently.

“No, the guy who wanted everyone to be separate was some human guy from before the Shades even started. And the Shade’s never killed anyone!” Styler said, turning to the squirrel below him.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Does anyone actually know what’s going on at all?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Nobody said anything. “Great. Well, I guess I’ll just have to ask the Shade myself when I get to the Battle Zone.”

At that moment, Lana arrived back from the bathroom. She’d been in there a long time. Kevin noticed she looked pretty down on herself as she sat down on one of the seats and tried to smile at them all.

Kevin sighed. They were almost at Canalave City now. It was only a matter of time until they beat Byron and made their way to the next gym, wherever that was.

But Kevin was determined. The League wouldn’t be a piece of cake, and they had to do decently enough to get to go to the Battle Frontier. Only three more badges. Three more and a league.

And then, he’d get to confront his uncle once and for all.


	24. Chapter 24

“So we meet again! Are you up for another match already?” Byron, the steel type gym leader of Canalave City, looked ominously down upon Kevin as he grinned maniacally. Kevin still couldn’t decide whether this guy was scary or awesome.

Kevin cleared his throat. “Yeah, I think so. Is that okay with you?”

Byron laughed and grabbed a Pokéball off his belt. “Of course it is! You already know what I’m going to use, so let’s not waste any time!” He threw the ball with an astonishing speed. “Go, Bronzor!”

Once again, the lifeless-looking dark blue disc emerged in a flash of light. It stared at Kevin unblinkingly, but he tried not to pay attention to it. Kevin sighed.

All right, it was still a three on three. But this time, it would be different. He’d thought things over, and he’d decided he’d have to let the others have their time to shine. He was still a super effective fire type, so he’d still be in the match, but he’d let the others handle it, too.

He turned to Lana and the team behind him. “Mist?” he asked, gesturing for her to get up there.

The Floatzel looked extremely nervous, giving Kevin a look of despair. He rolled his eyes.

“Are you forgetting you won this the last time? _Come on_ ,” He suddenly remembered Mist’s crush on him and hastily tried a different tactic. “I mean, please?” he said, smiling.

Mist blinked before scurrying into the battlefield. Kevin turned around, hoping to feel less awkward as the battle progressed. “All right. Let’s go.”

And so, the battle began. Predictably, Bronzor opened up with a Confuse Ray, which Mist was prepared for and easily dodged. Oh yeah. No way was he letting the disaster of a battle that happened before repeat itself.

“Let’s try Aqua Jet,” said Kevin cautiously. That had been the winning move before, but only after plenty of other attacks. Bronzor was a defensive Pokémon, that was for sure.

Byron laughed heartily. “Don’t think you’re the only one who’s learned from the last time! Hypnosis!”

“What?!” That thing knew Confuse Ray _and_ Hypnosis? What a cheap little plastic plate. “Mist! Go straight up instead!” Everyone around him seemed to think of it as a strange command, but jumping usually worked for him, so…

Mist didn’t manage to propel herself very high up – only four feet or so – but the quick re-aiming of Hypnosis missed anyway. Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was for Mist to fall asleep.

“Flash Cannon the ground!” yelled Byron. Kevin narrowed his eyes. This was getting to be annoying. Relentless attacks seemed unfair, even if they weren’t.

The ground cracked open upon the beam’s silvery impact, creating a rocky fissure for Mist to land in. Excellent. She fell with a cry, the rocks striking her painfully. Come on, there had to be something he could do. If the previous strategy didn’t work, quick thinking would have to!

Bronzor was a disc. What did people do with discs? Aside from being plates, they were also CDs. And other things. Damn it!

“Water Gun,” Kevin said, stalling. Discs were the shapes of targets, sort of? But an enemy Pokémon was a target anyway. A Frisbee…? Would that even work?

As Kevin tried to figure out how Mist could possibly beat Bronzor while treating it as a Frisbee, Byron ordered an Extrasensory, hitting Mist hard.

…Wait a minute. What was he even doing? A Frisbee? There was no need to resort to anything so ridiculous. All he needed to do was keep his cool and battle like he usually did. Nothing else to it.

“Sonicboom,” Kevin said, narrowing his eyes. No matter what, Sonicboom always inflicted the same amount of damage – it didn’t matter if you were a defensive tank or a newborn Wurmple. Well, it kind of did, because a newborn Wurmple was unlikely to even have enough stamina to take a hit at all, but regardless, Sonicboom would do damage.

Mist growled and sent a strong, swish of air from her tails at Bronzor, hitting it square in the face. It seemed to ignore the hit, but Kevin knew it had at least done something. And at this level of competition, Kevin had a feeling it’d be effective.

“Let’s keep doing that,” said Kevin, finally gaining a smirk. He was itching to get to battle Steelix again, just so he could get the badge already. Mist nodded, swishing her tails a second time.

Bronzor dodged the new wave easily. “Whittling down diamonds only makes them stronger!” declared Byron, sending his fist to the sky as he towered over everyone else on the battlefield. “Sparkle with some Flash Cannon!”

“Diamonds?” Kevin muttered. Byron was the craziest person alive, aside from maybe Chuno. “Er, stand your ground and try to counter with Water Gun!”

Mist sent a powerful jet of water towards the silver light, slowing its progress. It was clear that Water Gun wasn’t nearly as powerful, though, as the silver cannon was beginning to push the Floatzel back a bit. 

…Silver cannon. He’d seen this move used by someone else— Oh, right! In the Pokémon Contest. It was part of the Flashing Cannon Combo Marianna had used. The electricity had circled around the beam, somehow.

Kevin frowned slightly. “Mist, can you use Whirlpool?” he asked, wondering if his new, sudden plan would work.

She ceased fire and ducked quickly, letting the rest of the Flash Cannon zoom past over her head and into the wall. “Um, maybe?”

“Try it,” Kevin said, hoping her attempt would be decent enough. She began to do something like an Aqua Jet, only her tails were twirling and drawing the water towards the tips of her tails. Once she had a sizable amount of water, she sent it flying towards Bronzor, who dodged.

She grimaced. “I’m not very good,” she told him quickly before avoiding another Confuse Ray.

Kevin shook his head. “That’s okay, I think it’s good enough,” he said. She raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but I have a feeling it’ll be interesting!” said Byron with a grin. “Let’s use Flash Cannon one more time!”

“Whirlpool!” Kevin shouted. Mist, acting fast, sent a sloppy Whirlpool at the nearing beam of silver. If it worked like Kevin hoped it would, it would wrap around the beam and strike Bronzor at the end it came from.

It didn’t. Instead, the Whirlpool drew in all the energy from the cannon and exploded, sending a shower of water and bits of metal everywhere. Kevin shuddered; the water had hurt combined with the sharp debris. He frowned.

“Okay, fine! At least it didn’t get you!” Kevin shouted to Mist, who seemed to be less damaged than he was, probably because the water didn’t hurt her. “Just Aqua Jet and Sonicboom until it faints!”

He was getting irritated. The first part of the battle wasn’t supposed to be taking this long. Thankfully, Mist was quick on her feet, quicker than before, actually. She responded to the command with what was essentially her own form of a Close Combat: a tackle from Aqua Jet, a punch (which couldn’t have felt nice on her knuckles), a Sonicboom, and a Water Gun.

And… That was it. Bronzor was down. Kevin blinked. Why hadn’t she moved that fast earlier? It would have saved a lot of time.

“Clever use of Swift Swim! I wouldn’t think a few drops of water from the sky would trigger it, but I guess it did!” said Byron happily.

Kevin blinked. “Uh, right,” he said.

Byron stared at him. “You didn’t plan that?” he asked, still smiling.

“…Not really,” Kevin admitted, still a bit confused.

Byron did not blink, nor did his smile falter. “Well, good on you anyway! Steelix!” He threw his next Pokéball, allowing the massive, steel snake to emerge once again.

“Okay. Mist, it’s my turn,” Kevin said.

All right. This was his time to shine. Kevin stepped out onto the field. Steelix wasn’t weakened like before, but that wouldn’t matter. He wouldn’t need his strength saved up for Bastiodon this time, if it all went the way he wanted it to.

“Sandstorm!” called Byron, setting up the persistent irritant of small rocks and sand that would pelt Kevin for the next few minutes. Kevin narrowed his eyes. No sweat. This wouldn’t take too long.

He opened with a Mach Punch, setting him up close to the towering behemoth of a serpent. The punch barely grazed Steelix, which was intentional; if Kevin punched any harder, he’d only end up hurting himself.

“Dragonbreath!” Byron commanded. Steelix immediately responded with a rush of blue flames aimed at Kevin. Surprisingly, they actually hurt. They were flames, but they weren’t actual fire. It felt more like an acidic burn. Kevin frowned. So this was a dragon type move? Interesting.

He shot a Flamethrower at Steelix, hitting him in the face. Once again, Steelix reeled, the fire super effective against his cold, steel body. Kevin took a deep breath and used another Flamethrower, not wanting to take any hesitation.

The battle of flames didn’t last long. Kevin was hit with another Dragonbreath as Steelix was engulfed in Flamethrower after Flamethrower. Eventually, it was too much for the snake, and he collapsed heavily.

Kevin breathed deeply. All right, that went well. He stepped back towards the trainer’s section of the field, trying to regain his breath. It had taken a lot to breath that much fire, and he was feeling a little drowsy. He looked at Lana.

“Send out Kari,” he said to the girl. She bit her lip and tossed him the Pokéball.

Kevin stared at it. He’d never actually thrown a Pokéball before… But whatever. He tossed it on the ground, watching Kari emerge. He stared for a second before turning and lobbing the ball back to Lana. It was weirder than it should have been.

“You never told me I was going to be in this battle,” Kari said, not bothering to turn her weight around to make eye contact with him.

Kevin sighed. “If you weren’t being all grumpy, then you would have known. Are you going to listen to me or what?”

Kari chuckled. “Fine,” she said simply.

Byron didn’t seem to make note of their conversation as he whipped out the Pokéball that could only contain Bastiodon. “Are we ready for the end?” he asked, excitement shining in his eyes.

Kari chuckled again while Kevin grinned. Byron hurled the ball, releasing the prehistoric monster known as Bastiodon. Kevin breathed. Okay, this was it.

“Kari, you know Leech Seed, right?” Kevin asked.

“Mm hmm,” Kari replied.

“Then do it,” he said.

“You just love telling me what to do, don’t you?” Kari chided. Even so, she still shot a seed from the tree on her back at Bastiodon. The seed landed on his foot, sprouting tiny vines that wrapped around and cut into his hard skin. Nice.

Byron shook his head. “Our unbeatable combination won’t be stopped! Iron Defense!” Byron said. Kevin wondered why he was so dramatic. Not that it was bad, but it was kind of hilarious.

“What now?” Kari asked impatiently. Kevin went over her moves in his head. Grass type moves were likely a stupid choice, along with Crunch, but Earthquake would be decent, even with defense boosts.

Kevin smirked. “Earthquake,” he said.

Kari frowned. “And knock you out too? Kevin, did you think this through at all?”

He blinked. Oh, right. Earthquake rattled everyone on the field, but him, more so. He frowned. “’Kay… No problem.”

“What?” Kari asked. Bastiodon continued to use Iron Defense in the background as Kevin hopped up on Kari’s back. He climbed the small tree and grinned.

“There. Now use it,” he said.

Kari was stunned. “I… All right,” she said. She stomped her front legs into the ground, sending shockwaves in all directions. Kevin had to hold onto her tree to steady himself; although he wasn’t feeling the ripples in the ground firsthand, the attack shook him and Kari, too.

Bastiodon cringed. Kevin smirked. _Finally_. Something that could actually hurt this guy! Across the field, Byron was scratching his head.

“Well, I’m not sure if that’s legal or not, but I’ll take it!” he said, laughing. “Let’s use Flash Cannon some more!”

Kevin was getting sick of the sparkling, silver attack. “Counter it,” he said quickly.

“With _what_? You have to be more specific!” Kari shot back. Kevin grimaced as the beam hit her on the shell.

He sighed. “Well, if you can’t counter, at least dodge. Earthquake again,” he said, squeezing the branch of the tree.

She drove her legs into the ground once more. “You didn’t tell me how to counter! And I can’t move quickly, especially with you crushing my branches,” Kevin only tightened his grip as he was shaken a second time.

“You can’t even feel it,” he muttered, eyeing Bastiodon, who was readying Ancient Power.

Kari growled. “Yes, I can! And at the moment, it hurts enough that you’re cancelling out what I’m getting from Leech Seed!” She aimed a few Razor Leaves at his hand, causing him to let go.

“Sorry,” he muttered, hopping out of the tree and steadying himself with one of the large rocks on Kari’s back instead. “Don’t tell me you can feel this too. Earthquake again.”

Kari made another Earthquake, this one more powerful than before. She seemed to be channelling her anger through the ground, instead. Bastiodon was hit as he sent several large rocks hurtling at Kari, who did her best to tank through each hit. (Kevin had to dodge a bit as well.)

The battle went on similarly for some time, Kari using Earthquake repeatedly and Bastiodon somehow staying conscious through it all. It was clear that both of the bulky reptilians were getting fatigued, however. Kevin himself was quite tired and really wanted to lie down and take a nap.

“Flash Cannon!” yelled Byron again. By contrast, Byron was still very excited with the battle. Kevin never would have thought that anyone would be even more passionate about battling than he was, but here was Byron, pumped as he could be. He was beginning to remind Kevin of his Uncle Nick.

Kari’s breathing was getting heavier. Kevin sighed, patting her tree. “Hey, let’s switch out, okay? I’ll finish up,” he offered.

Kari shook her head. “No way. I haven’t had this much fun in years,” she breathed, sending another powerful Earthquake through the ground and to Bastiodon. Kevin blinked.

“Really?” he asked. “You like it?”

She laughed. “Yes. I really do,” she said happily. Then she smiled. “Now get off my back.”

“Wha— No!” said Kevin.

“Suit yourself,” Kari said. She made sure she was balanced before charging something.

“What are you doing?” Kevin asked quickly, narrowing his eyes. Across the stadium, Bastiodon was unmoved.

She grinned. “I want to try something,” she answered. Suddenly, a barrage of leaves from her tree flew off, aimed for Bastiodon. Quite a few hit Kevin along the way, leaving him with several tiny cuts. Although it didn’t hurt him too much, he bit his tongue from the pain. Geez, that stung.

The leaves were sharp enough that they clinked when they hit Bastiodon’s shield of a face. At first, Bastiodon was stoic and unfazed, but once the attack ended, his knees buckled, sending him falling to the ground. Bastiodon fainted.

Kevin blinked. “…Was that Razor Leaf?” he asked, amazed that Kari had amassed so much power in such little time. Kari giggled, shaking her head.

“No, I think it’s something else,” she said, sighing in content. “I won,” she said happily.

Byron was laughing. “So you did! That was an excellent match!” He walked over to them, his hand digging around in his pocket. Finally, he pulled out a small silver and brown piece of metal. “This is your prize. The Mine Badge,” He placed the badge in Kevin’s hand.

Kevin blinked. “…Thanks,” he said.

*

“I don’t know, I just felt so exhilarated! I never realized battling was so much fun, really!” Kari said happily. Her face was lit up in pure bliss. What a rare sight.

Kevin tossed the badge in the air and caught it. “If I’d known you were this good, I would have made you battle in Veilstone and Hearthome, too,” he muttered, smirking. “Which reminds me, where to next?”

Kari suddenly frowned. “Oh… Snowpoint City,” she said disdainfully.

“And that’s bad?” Kevin asked.

Kari’s frown deepened. “Well, I think I’ll be in my Pokéball for most of that trip,” she replied.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Because…?”

“Are you that dense? _Snowpoint_ City. In the _winter_. We’ll be lucky if Lana doesn’t freeze to death.”

Ah. That wouldn’t be good.


	25. Chapter 25

“Oh, when the weather outside is—”

“Don’t start.”

Kevin had heard many songs and other wonderful things about snow. Growing up in such a tropical region, however, forbade him from ever getting the chance to see it. Seeing it now made him glad he was saved the torture.

It was almost exactly like rain, except ten times as cold and it could pile up on the ground. Every single time a snowflake hit him, his body evaporated it in an instant. But since there were so many, there was only so much Kevin could do to keep up with them all, and he soon became very, very wet. He was not very happy.

He wished for nothing more than to be safe inside somewhere, even if that meant going back inside his Pokéball. But no. Little Miss Lana was too cold and too wet and decided that Kevin would be perfect for melting a pathway all the way up to the city in the north.

…It was two hours by _snowmobile_ , and if this kept up, they’d be lucky if they made it by nightfall.

Kevin wanted to know whose bright idea it was to place an official Pokémon gym in such an obscure town. There were plenty of other spots. Jubilife, for one, was a gigantic city reminiscent of Lilycove in Hoenn, and yet it didn’t have a gym. Come to think of it, neither did Lilycove. What the heck were the league officials thinking?

It wasn’t even just a hike up a snowy hill to get to Snowpoint, either. No, first Kevin had gotten the pleasure of scrambling through the mountain that divided Sinnoh in two. Seeing as he’d just battled the hell out of every rock type ever on Iron Island, he wasn’t too thrilled with yet another cave. And more _Bronzor_.

So once he stumbled out of the cave, he was expecting something more pleasant. The shower of snow and hail that greeted him wasn’t all that great, to put it lightly. And now here he was, acting as a living snow shovel and trudging his way through the two foot deep snow mounds. It wasn’t very amusing when he was only three feet tall to begin with.

“I’m just trying to l-lighten the mood,” said Lana, her teeth chattering slightly. Kevin figured she wasn’t shivering madly because his tail was creating enough heat for her to be only mildly chilled, or something. He narrowed his eyes.

“It’s not working. I don’t want to hear anything about snow for the rest of my life.”

“You’re grumpy,” mused Lana, shoving her gloved hands into the pockets of her winter coat.

“Well _excuse me_ , princess, but I don’t exactly enjoy being forced to do all this backbreaking labour,” Kevin seethed, the steam from the melting snow becoming slightly denser.

Lana huffed. “Why don’t you just Flame Wheel through it all?”

Kevin shook his head. “No way. There’s way too much of it to do any good. Just keep walking. _Quietly_.”

He felt her glaring at the back of his head, but he didn’t care. He had too much on his mind for that.

He’d put all his focus into the gym battle the day before because he had so desperately wanted to win. So much, actually, that he’d postponed mulling over what he’d last heard on the radio. And now that he was out walking and needed something to make him forget about the cold, now was the perfect time to catch up with his own mind.

So. Uncle Mono actually admitted to being related to him, did he? That was odd. Last time Kevin checked, the clan wanted nothing to do with “demons” like him. He could see his brother being more readily accepted for sure. Kyle looked a great deal like their mother and therefore more like a normal clan member. But for Uncle Mono to go and say he was related to _him_ on a public radio broadcast was just out of character.

Obviously, he must’ve planned something out. What, though? Kevin gritted his teeth. Perhaps it was to lure Kevin into false security so that his uncle could pull something? But his uncle couldn’t possibly think he was stupid enough to fall for that.

Kevin narrowed his eyes and kicked a wad of wet snow in his path. Kari knew what Uncle Mono was like. So did his mother. If anything, getting their opinions on the matter would be helpful. But Kevin didn’t want to get his mom wrapped up in anything, and he doubted Kari would be that willing to talk about good ol’ Shady. So he was stuck.

He spat out a flame. Things had definitely changed since he had been captured. Pokémon rights, gym battles, crazy, half-blind turtles… But he supposed it was a good thing. He’d left home out of boredom, and had somehow gotten into an adventure, if you could even call it that. Even if he wasn’t a chosen one or otherwise all that special.

Aside from adventure, for the first time in his life, Kevin got to meet people without automatically being branded as some creepy abomination that was never meant to be. He talked? Okay, everyone else does, too! He wanted to basically be a trainer? Sure, go ahead! It was like Sinnoh was the idealistic place he’d dreamed up as a kid, just with an inadequate climate and a couple of human-shaped hurdles along the way.

He wondered if Hoenn had changed that much while he was locked away in storage. It probably had. He doubted Sinnoh was always this way and by the same logic, Hoenn couldn’t be the same. Well, that was good. To see the looks on the Taillow and Swellow’s faces when they learned that the “demon tongue” had spread into wide usage would be priceless.

Kevin looked up. There was a clump of snow-covered trees at the horizon, along with what looked like something tall and yellow to the right. He stopped.

“Is that the city over there?” he asked, squinting to try and get a better look. He was lucky to make out the yellow, with all the snow falling everywhere.

Chilled, Lana nodded. “Y-yeah, I think so. It’s not like they’d leave a random crane in the middle of nowhere,” She shivered. “C-can we hurry?”

Kevin blinked. That was a crane? Guh, he had some awful vision. “Er, okay,” he muttered, speeding up as much as he could. Being near neck-deep in snow, though, it was difficult.

It was about half an hour before they finally reached the city, and the sun was just starting to set. Thankfully, the citizens of Snowpoint kept their main roads relatively clear of snow, making it easy to book it to the Pokémon Center and breath a sigh of relief.

Kevin was happy to be warm again. Being a fire type, he knew he wasn’t as cold as Lana must have been, but it was still pleasing to get his internal temperature back up a hundred degrees or so.

Lana had scrambled over to the seat nearest the Center’s fireplace as soon as she got in the door. She was presently seated, coat and all still on, huddled in a little ball. Kevin made his way over to her.

“Um, you okay?” he asked. She nodded tenderly before reaching into her coat and pulling out a Pokéball.

“I know you want to talk to her, so here,” she said, handing him the near-frozen ball.

He took it, a little surprised, but he left Lana on her own. Since Kari didn’t want to come out in the blizzards, inside was the only place they could really talk. He headed to the other side of the room and released her.

“Hey,” she said upon emerging. “I take it we’ve arrived. You’re singing the carpet, by the way,” She looked down along with him at his feet, which, sure enough, were creating a black spot in the otherwise white carpeting. Kevin quickly lowered his temperature again.

“Sorry, I’m not really used to being cold,” he said. “Um, Kari, can I ask you something?” He hoped she’d at least give him an idea of how to approach the Shade.

She smiled. “What is it?”

“How well do you know the Shade?” he said carefully. She frowned slightly, but still answered.

“Hmm. It’s hard to say. I thought I knew him, up until he abandoned me. Why?” Her blind eye gave him a stare he hadn’t received for a while.

Kevin shrugged. “Well, um, he was on the radio the other day, and he said he was related to me—”

“Did he, now? He always told me he wanted nothing to do with you,” Kari said in amusement. “Why did he say that?”

“The reporter kind of cornered him into answering it,” Kevin answered.

Kari laughed. “Ha! And he thinks he’s charismatic,” Kari said.

“Yeah, but even then, it’s kind of weird for him to go and admit it like that, isn’t it?” Kevin pressed. She had to know what he was going to do. She had to.

Kari sighed and lay down. “Let me tell you what I think, because I think I might know him a little better than you do,” Kevin nodded. “Look at it in perspective. He’s totally stressed over you right now, with you suddenly showing up after all these years. He’s going to do some odd things and say stuff that he’ll regret. You’d do the same, wouldn’t you?”

Kevin frowned. “So now you’re telling me to pretend to be him? Funny, you were saying the opposite just the other day,” he said.

Kari’s eyes widened. “What? I didn’t mean it like that, you idiot!”

He smirked. “Yeah, whatever. So you don’t think it’s a trap or anything, then?”

“A trap? What would he need to trap you for?’ Kari asked, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

“I don’t know, maybe so he can strike when I least expect it or something—”

“Arceus, Kevin, do you honestly think he’s seriously intent on hurting you?” Kari said, her voice suddenly changing from cheerful to incredulous. “I _really_ doubt that.”

“He hurt you!” Kevin exclaimed, crossing his arms. “Is it so hard to believe?”

Kari sighed and shook her head steadily. “That— That was a _completely_ different situation, Kevin. The only person he could ever hurt like that is me. The idea that he would want to actually kill you is absurd!”

With an angry sigh, Kevin turned around, setting his gaze on the frosty window across the Pokémon Center lobby. “Maybe it was a bad idea to talk to someone wearing rose coloured glasses,” he said, flicking his tail.

“Rose coloured— I’m hardly being nostalgic here! What makes you any less biased than me, anyway?” The giant turtle stood up and took a few steps closer towards him, stopping close enough to breathe down Kevin’s neck.

“For one, I’m not the one in love with him,” Kevin said darkly. “You know what? It’s fine. I’ll handle the lunatic on my own. I don’t care if you think he’s harmless, because I know he’s not.”

Kevin threw the Pokéball behind him, taking Kari by surprise as she was sucked back into the depths of the red and white sphere. The ball dropped to the ground, but just as Kevin was about to pick it up, it burst open again.

“Before you go and mope in a corner, wait up a second,” Kari said, shutting her eyes in frustration. “Let’s just… Let’s go over the new gym battle plans or something.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow, but decided to go with it. “Fine. Unless the leader’s bent on freezing their Pokémon to death, I’m assuming it’s ice type this time?”

Kari stretched her neck. “I would think so. You’re not going to make me battle, right?”

He smirked. “Nah, I can take everyone out by myself,” he said, stretching his arms out.

“Mm hmm. Ego-face, did you forget you couldn’t do the last gym by yourself? Type advantages don’t mean everything; you of all people should know that. Have you even fought an ice type before?” She smirked as well.

Scoffing, Kevin flicked his tail again and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe not, but I’ve seen battles against ice types, and they kind of suck. They’re weak to like, everything.”

“Really?” Kari was skeptical, but he supposed that was because she was weak to ice.

“Yep, including both of my types. Piece of cake, Kari.” He cracked his knuckles.

“I don’t get it. How is this different from the last gym?” she asked, frowning at him. “Regardless of whether you can win on your own or not, you should still make a strategy with the rest of the team.”

“Guess so,” Kevin muttered. He gazed out the window. “Right… I feel like a walk. See you later.” Without another word, he left. It was better that Kari didn’t follow him outside, anyway.

*

Walking through the city was like something out of a winter fantasy. Somehow, the snow in the populated area of the north fell majestically onto the brilliant, uniform red roof buildings, unlike the spastic blizzard that had attacked the route before. Kevin decided that snow was actually okay when it was easygoing.

Despite being so far north, Snowpoint seemed to be full of commerce, too. The downtown area was lit up with festive decorations and sales behind the frosty windows, eager to catch customers. If he could buy stuff, he would, but Kevin didn’t have any money and he doubted Lana would lend him some. Even then, he caught himself window-shopping.

He was just about to turn himself away from the breathtaking electronics display when the televisions switched to a news piece. Normally, it wouldn’t have caught Kevin’s attention at all, but the person in the interview looked eerily familiar.

The man had messy brown hair and glasses, which were common features, sure. But this guy looked a lot like Kevin’s deceased grandfather. Kevin squinted, nearing his face a few inches to the window. The man’s eyes were blue. Holly-family blue.

Frowning, Kevin went inside the store so he could hear the interview. After all, Kari had told him he was about as skilled with reading lips as with reading words. Thankfully, some of the televisions were not muted, allowing him to hear what was going on. He stood in front of a TV positioned for customers inside the store and listened.

 _“Professor, we’re essentially asking you the same questions we did when the Shade first showed up. Are you willing to give us answers this time?”_ Sinnoh must have had only one reporter, because Roxy was back again, pestering this Grandpa Holly lookalike the same way she bothered the Shade.

The man was noticeably uncomfortable. _“I gave answers last time,”_ he said quietly.

Whoa. That voice… Wait a minute…

 _“Well, now’s your chance to reiterate what you said, based on new findings. You are the inventor of the pill that allows Pokémon to speak English, correct?”_ Roxy asked.

 _“They could always speak English. A better term would be ‘human’. But all the pill does is act as a soothing treatment to their throats, restructuring their vocal chords to allow for a greater variety of sounds.”_ The man straightened up in his seat, but he still looked nervous.

 _“That sounds like it could get complicated,”_ said Roxy.

The man shrugged. _“For some species, yes, it can. As most people are aware, a pill doesn’t exist yet for Pokémon without throats, like some robotic Pokémon. A Pokémon like Porygon can be easily reprogrammed to speak, but the same can’t be done for, say, a Metagross. But for most mammals the pill is pretty much a long lasting cough drop.”_

Roxy’s eyes widened. _“Does that mean Pokémon can speak English— er,_ _human_ _, rather, by just taking cough drops instead of your invention?”_

 _“Actually, if they’re motivated enough, cough drops aren’t even necessary. The Shade himself didn’t take any cough drops to help him speak, for example.”_ This was all too familiar…

_“And exactly how are you aware of this, Professor Holly?”_

The man paled. Kevin did as well. This wasn’t happening.

Acting like a nervous wreck, Professor Holly waved his hand. _“It’s obvious from analyzing the data from our test subjects. Pokémon who didn’t use the pill to learn human often have more noticeable difficulties producing the required range of sounds. The Shade himself is the one exception.”_ Kevin breathed; he didn’t realize he was holding his breath.

Reporter Roxy seemed to be satisfied, as she moved onto her next inquiry. _“Interesting. So, the creation of this pill and the Shades… Surely, the Shades must have inspired you to create such a thing?”_

 _“Well, sort of, maybe…”_ Professor Holly frowned. _“I’ve always wanted humans and Pokémon to be considered equals. But I remember thinking, um, ‘Unless some talking Pokémon that humans respect enough shows up, nobody’s going to pay attention’. And then the Shade showed up, so…”_

 _“In other interviews, Professor, you’ve always been pro-Pokémon, and claim you were before the Shade became famous. Would you please elaborate on how you obtained this opinion?”_ Roxy asked.

Professor Holly blinked. _“I… Look,”_ he said, folding his arms as his expression became irritated. _“My father was a professional trainer. He treated his Pokémon with respect, and even though he couldn’t understand them, he tried his hardest to. I was raised to do the exact same thing, and my children were, too. That’s all.”_

Roxy nodded hesitantly. _“Right. Thank you so much for your time, Professor. Stay tuned after the break when we’ll talk with the Champion of Sinnoh about what it takes to be a top trainer!”_ The interview then cut to commercial.

Kevin stood with his arms folded across his chest. _Well_ …

So that was what became of his father. He succeeded in turning human and somehow secured a job as a professor of some sort. No doubt Bill had helped him, what with his millions of dollars from inventing the storage system.

But… Nothing made sense. Why would Uncle Mono voluntarily stress out his vocal chords to speak human? He hated “demons”. And even if he did, why would Kevin’s dad want to help him out by inventing a pill that let everyone talk? They were mortal enemies!

Well, maybe not mortal enemies, but Kevin knew Uncle Mono would be glad to take the life of a demon contaminating the earth. Unless his father was trying to make peace with him or something, it didn’t make any sense.

…Unless, of course, it was out of spite for Uncle Mono, and the pill was made to enrage him by spreading human language around. But Cory Holly was hardly a spiteful person, even if he did leave the family when Kevin and his brother were little.

Any way Kevin tried to wrap his head around it, it just didn’t fit. Uncle Mono seemed more like a Naturalist than anything, and it was odd for Cory to acknowledge his brother-in-law, let alone invent something because of him.

Something didn’t add up in the equation. Kevin thought he had all the numbers, but something was turning out to be an incorrect variable. But which one?

He would have stood there and thought about it more, but a voice called out to him.

“Hey, aren’t you that Slick guy?”


	26. Chapter 26

“Yeah, you are! Hey, Slick, why haven’t you been interviewed yet?”

Kevin frowned. How was he supposed to respond to that? “Um—”

“What side are you on?” said another customer. The other shoppers all turned to face him, all with inquisitive looks in their eyes. It was a lot like what happened in Canalave with Chuno, only this time, he was kind of cornered inside the store.

He bit his tongue. He needed to think quickly and say the right thing, lest anybody get the wrong idea. Unfortunately, he was never very good at that. Kyle was the one who had a way with words. Kevin struggled to come up with something as stares bore into him like never before.

“Well, I… I haven’t been interviewed because nobody’s asked, that’s all!” That was true. Kevin grinned nervously. “Um, I’ve gotta go…”

He darted out the door. Upon touching snow he immediately somersaulted into a Flame Wheel and zoomed away as far as he could. The scene wasn’t just reminiscent of his confrontation with Chuno, now that he thought about it.

When he was seven, he had the same sort of experience with a group of Taillow. They’d managed to surround him and corner him at a tree trunk… And the rest was all childish stuff. _“Whose side are you on?” “Do you really want to mess with us?”_ Kevin remembered their voices well. He hadn’t been beaten up or anything, since he overpowered them easily, but since then, he preferred not to be cornered.

Even so, tucking tail and running wasn’t exactly the most valiant thing to do, either. But whatever. The public didn’t need to know everything about him, just like how they didn’t know everything about the Shade. Once the conflict was resolved, Kevin would be happy to fade into irrelevance and disappear. Fame wasn’t his life goal.

…What was his life goal, anyway? He barely cared about that, either. He’d have plenty of time to figure everything out later. What mattered now was winning the league and beating the crap out of Shady.

Kevin stopped his fiery getaway in front of the Pokémon Center. It had only been half an hour or so, but the sky was already black. He’d challenge the gym leader tomorrow.

*

“Hey, hotshot. Who else is going to be battling today?” asked Kari, as per usual.

“I already told you. I’ll sweep the gym, no problem,” Kevin replied, grinning out of habit. Didn’t they already have this conversation?

Kari said nothing, but her unimpressed glare said enough.

“Okay, fine! If, for some strange reason, I _do_ need help through this battle, I’ll send in Mist. Happy?” He took her silence as a yes and faced the gym doors with a sigh.

Kevin had debated whether to tell her about seeing his father on TV. In the end, he decided to hold off until they could have a civil conversation with one another again. By the way things were going, though, Kevin had a feeling that it would take a little while for that to happen.

So, with confidence, he strode into the gym. It was only the slightest bit warmer than outside, prompting Kari to growl in frustration. Lana followed in behind them, her coat zipped up to her neck.

Kevin glanced at the turtle behind him. “You sure you want to stay out?”

“I want to watch you eat your words, _dear_ ,” Kari said mockingly. Kevin rolled his eyes.

Across the room, at the other side of the stadium, a young woman with dark, braided hair and a short skirt sat upon an icy chair. She was chewing bubblegum. When she saw Kevin and the others arrive, she smirked.

“Hi there! Candice was waiting for you to challenge her!” The woman slid off the chair and placed her hands on her hips. Kevin managed how she managed to stay warm, dressed like she was.

He nodded. “Right. Where is she?”

The woman stared at him for a moment before replying. “…Right here. I’m Candice.”

Kevin blinked. “Oh. Then why— Uh, whatever. Let’s just get this battle started,” Who the heck referred to themselves in third person like that? Add that to wearing a skirt like that in this city, and Kevin was certain that this gym leader was another nut.

Candice nodded, taking a Pokéball from her waist and throwing it up in the air. “I like four on four knockout battles. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure,” Kevin said. It wasn’t like four ice types instead of three would make a difference, anyway. He stretched out his arms. He wasn’t going to eat his words. Not until Spoink could fly. That is, if one didn’t count bouncing through the air with their tails as flying… Ah, whatever. (He was sure saying that a lot…)

Candice grinned and tossed her first Pokéball, releasing a bipedal Pokémon with ebony fur and one magenta, feathery ear. Kevin narrowed his eyes. All right. This thing didn’t look like an ice type, but if Candice was using it, it had to be.

“Slash!” yelled Candice. The Pokémon was quick; using her claws to skate on the ice. All right. He could do the speed thing, too.

Kevin waited for the ice type to get close enough (which wasn’t too long) and responded with a Mach Punch to her gut, sending her flying into a mound of ice on the field. He waited for her to get up… But she didn’t.

“…Sneasel?” asked Candice. She stepped towards her Pokémon. “Wow. You’ve got a strong arm, there,” she said, addressing Kevin.

He felt a bit stunned. If anything, he didn’t think he’d curb stomp ice types _that_ easily. He grinned slyly and glanced back at Kari, who was staring at him bewildered.

“See?” he asked, chuckling. “I’ve got this in the bag.”

Candice returned Sneasel to her Pokéball and fumbled for another one. “Okay then… Snover!”

Snover looked like a stubby, walking tree. Kevin snickered. Fantastic! This Pokémon had to be grass type, too, meaning fire would be perfect.

“Ice Shard!” commanded Candice. Snover created a small, yet razor sharp icicle and sent it flying towards him. Kevin ducked out of the way skilfully—

“GAAAHH! DON’T DODGE THAT!” shrieked Kari from behind him. He cringed and turned around.

The Ice Shard had hit Kari in the face, giving her a tiny, bleeding cut above her good eye. Kari was breathing quickly, a panicked expression clouding her face. “DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! IF THAT HAD GOTTEN IN MY EYE—”

“Okay! All right! I’m sorry, I won’t dodge them!” Kevin said hurriedly, hoping to calm her down. Candice was wide eyed, a hand placed to her mouth. Lana had a similar expression, even backing away from her starter.

Kari looked angry enough to breathe fire. “Keep your word or I’ll kill you,” she said, the anger practically oozing out of her words.

Focusing back on the battle, Kevin couldn’t help but shudder. Ice Shard was a deadly move, even for a fire type like him. If one got in his own eye, well… From what he’d seen, being half blind wasn’t pretty.

Candice seemed to have the same idea, because Snover’s next move was Razor Leaf instead. It was hardly better, but at least Kevin was used to it. Kevin spun into a Flame Wheel and slammed into Snover, yet again sending one of Candice’s Pokémon flying in another one hit knock out.

He didn’t dare glance back at Kari again. She was most likely going to stay a vicious dragon for the whole day, and he didn’t want to set her off. Instead, he kept his eyes in front of him, where Candice was selecting her next Pokémon with a frown.

“It’s always the same,” she muttered. “Abomasnow! Let’s go!”

Abomasnow was just a larger version of Snover, by the looks of it. Well then, all Kevin needed was to use a bigger flame. Flamethrower it was.

Candice gritted her teeth. “Grasswhistle!” she shouted. Kevin narrowed his eyes. It was a rule, it seemed, for grass types to have as many sleep-inducing moves as possible. Well, there was no way he was falling asleep.

Kevin fired a Flamethrower at the tall, snowy Pokémon, burning away the whistle she had fashioned out of one of her leaves. Despite the power of the move, Abomasnow clung on to consciousness, irritating Kevin. It’d be so much easier if she just fainted.

He decided to finish off with Flame Wheel. Drawing closer to Abomasnow, he was about to hit her when Candice called out, “Wood Hammer!”

Abomasnow brought her arm down on him, slamming him into the icy ground. Though the wood part of Wood Hammer didn’t hurt much, the hammer part certainly did. He stood up, his back protesting madly against it. Damn it.

The attack was apparently too much for Abomasnow to bear, however, as she fainted shortly after. It took Kevin a second to realize what had just happened.

“A suicide tactic, huh?” he mused, rubbing his back. “Nice idea. I’m afraid I’m still kicking, though.”

Candice shook her head. “Yeah, I expected that,” She held her last Pokéball in her hand and sighed.

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked, his eyes narrowing.

The woman raised her eyebrows. “Every kid who starts with Chimchar ends up doing the same thing. They take out everyone in a hit or two, and it’s so depressing. It took a while, but I figured out a neat strategy,” Candice spun the Pokéball on her finger. “Candice can use a Pokémon that isn’t ice type! And then she can make an amazing comeback!”

She hurled the Pokéball to the ground, releasing a Medicham. Kevin felt his jaw drop.

“That’s false advertising,” he muttered. Candice laughed.

“There’s nothing in the rules that says I can’t train a Pokémon that isn’t my specialty!” she said, grinning. “Let’s go! Force Palm!”

Kevin tried darting out of the way, but his back prevented him from being fast enough. A power-infused palm connected with his jaw, sending pain through his teeth. Arceus, this wasn’t right.

A Medicham. A _Medicham_ , of all things. She probably chose Medicham so she could use Psychic and destroy part fighting types like him. But if that was the case, why had she used Force Palm? To keep him weary?

He fired a Flamethrower, only to be countered with Detect. He grunted. Fine. If she was going to use surprises, he could be cheap, too.

He Flame Wheeled over to Medicham, jumping over another Force Palm. As he descended, he used Aerial Ace, slashing her head. Without hesitation, upon landing he went in for another consecutive slash, aiming at her stomach. He finished with a close range Flamethrower.

Medicham couldn’t take that many hits in a row and collapsed. Kevin sighed, exhausted. That was it. He won, all by himself.

He looked at Kari, expecting her to be furious. To his delight, she appeared to be only mildly annoyed. “You’re a lucky little prick, you know that?” she said. Kevin grinned.

Candice sighed. “Well… I can’t say that hasn’t happened before either! But usually I can at least knock out one of their Pokémon,” she grumbled. “Well, it’s all right. That’s what I get for training ice types.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Um… Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you use Psychic?” he questioned. “I mean…”

To his surprise, Candice burst out laughing. “Medicham doesn’t know Psychic!”

“Uh… Why the hell not?” Kevin asked. What kind of self-respecting psychic type didn’t know Psychic…?

Candice threw her hands up in the air. “That was the whole point of training Medicham! But the league guys were all like, ‘No, that’s too hard for the challengers!’ and they forbid us from using it! But how else am I supposed to beat all those Infernape? They’re so dumb! Guh, I’d better stop whining or I’ll start sounding like Volkner used to…” She dug around in her pocket before taking out a blue and silver badge. “There you go. The Icicle Badge. Take good care of it, all right?”

And that was that. They’d now acquired seven of the eight badges needed. Just a little more to go, and they’d be confronting the Shade.

Finally.


	27. Chapter 27

“Electric? Huh. That’s not going to be very good.”

“So? What are you going to do about it, then?”

“I don’t know…”

It was a long trek back to the southern part of the region, and not a very eventful one, either. Thankfully, going downhill from Snowpoint City was a far easier and more manageable task than the journey to the town. Once Kevin and Lana had gotten through Mount Coronet for a second time, Kevin had decided to discuss the next course of action with Kari while Lana walked up farther ahead.

Unfortunately, he was faced with the reality that the team had diminished down to five members, after Nini had decided to stay on Iron Island. He hadn’t really thought about it until now, what with all the other things going through his head, but now that he had to, he was unsure what to do about it. Without a sixth member, he had less wiggle room for his battle options. Not that Nini ever battled. Still, having less than a full team didn’t sit right with him.

“I guess the best thing to do is find a replacement, but it’s already December and that doesn’t leave us with a lot of time.” He grimaced. “Unless a miracle happens, there’s no way we’ll get another team member _and_ get them trained up by the time the league starts.”

Kari frowned. “You don’t know anyone who could help, I take it?”

“Are you kidding? If I did, we wouldn’t be having this problem.” Kevin huffed. “Maybe if my brother could battle, but I doubt he’s gotten any better over the years. Not that having two of the same species on the team would ever be a good idea. He wouldn’t bother coming all the way here to help me, anyway.”

The Torterra’s pace faltered slightly, but she caught up within no time. “…Are you sure about that?” she asked softly.

“Of course. He’s a whiny brat who does nothing but sit around and eat apples all day. There’s no way he’d muster up the initiative to train up for _me_ , of all people,” Kevin narrowed his eyes. “Honestly, he could probably learn a thing or two from being around you.”

Kari stopped this time. Kevin stopped too, turning to face her. “What?”

She sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and looked him directly in the eye. “Have you ever tried looking at things in his perspective, Kevin?”

“His perspective’s hardly different than mine—”

“Kevin, really! Imagine you were a frail little kid who had a bully of an older brother and was constantly being shunned as demon spawn by everyone else. Then imagine that brother leaving on a journey, and finding yourself left all alone. You really think he wouldn’t want to help you? You may have been mean to him, but you were practically the only friend he had, aside from your mother.” Kari’s frown was angry, more akin to the first frowns Kevin had seen her with. He thought she was done with those.

Trying hard to suppress an eyeroll, Kevin looked away. “You must have misunderstood me, Kari. He only eats apples. Really, that’s it. That’s the only reason he’s as weak as he is. Even attempting a journey all the way here would be suicidal, and he’s not that stupid.”

Kari looked at him exasperatedly. “He was twelve years old,” she said.

“And so was I, when I left! But I knew I could actually hold my own in the wild, unlike him. Why are we talking about him, anyway? He can’t battle, so it’s not like I’m going to call him or anything.” Kevin started to walk again, trudging away without looking at the turtle. What did she know? He was the one who grew up with the kid, not her.

He tried to figure out what to do for their final gym match. Kari was an obvious choice, along with himself, but his other options were a problem. He didn’t know how many Pokémon the gym leader was going to use, so he had to be prepared. Three on three wouldn’t be too bad, but four on four or higher could potentially go south. Arceus forbid a full battle without a full team…

Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, a large orange Pokémon leaped in front of Kevin, chuckling. _“Hello there!”_

Kevin stared. Great. Chuno was back again. “What do you want?” he asked cautiously.

Chuno grinned. _“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Is that who I think it is…?”_ The Naturalist leisurely walked by Kevin over to Kari. _“Well, I’ll be! That scar says it all. Miss Kari! I’ve heard a lot about you from your little ‘dear’.”_

Kari turned crimson, but she looked more angry than embarrassed. “I have nothing to say to a monster like you—”

 _“Monster? Really, now. Shady should have figured I’d betray him from the start. I was only barely trying to hide it. Besides, I never did anything as bad as leaving my little sweetheart locked up and giving her false promises that I’d return, did I?”_ He licked his teeth.

Kari glared. “Just where the hell are you getting your information, anyway?”

Chuno smiled widely. _“Chuu… I was waiting for you to ask that! Have you heard of the actress, Estelle Glacée? No? Well, she’s part of the Shades, you see. Quite a talkative young girl. She managed to convince Shady one day to tell her about you, and I convinced her to tell me. Simple, really.”_

“Look, Chuno, can’t you go and bother somebody else right now?” Kevin said, feeling the need to intervene. The Raichu merely giggled.

 _“Well, I suppose. But now that I know you’ve been hanging around with Miss Kari, I’m afraid I simply can’t waste this opportunity.”_ He gave Kevin an amicable grin. _“What do you say to a temporary alliance?”_

“Absolutely not!” growled Kari.

Kevin blinked. “What? Um, why?”

 _“You hate Shady. I hate Shady. Miss Kari still bears a childhood crush, but otherwise she seems to hate him, too. Why don’t we all bring him down together, mm?”_ He placed a paw on Kari’s head and started petting her, much to her disgust. _“That’d make all our problems go away, wouldn’t it?”_

Kevin folded his arms. “You’re insane. If you think you can get Kari and I to do your dirty work—”

He was cut off by Chuno’s laughter. _“Haha! Boy, you look just like baby Shady when you do that! Ah, seriously, though, I’ve got someone to do all my dirty work already. You’d be my conspirators, you see. Just like how they all killed Caesar, yes?”_

“Who?” Kevin said. “Er, whatever. Look, no matter what you say, we’re not working with you.”

“And that’s final,” Kari added.

Chuno flicked his tail. _“Oh, really? That’s a shame. And I was going to offer to be the final member of your team, too!”_

“W-what?!” Kevin said. Kari whipped her head around to glare at him. “What are you talking about?”

Chuno smiled. _“I had a feeling Miss Kari would refuse, so I had to come up with something good. Lucky for me, you started talking about how you needed another teammate,”_ His smile grew. _“As you know, I was one of the Shades once. I had to handle all the dealings with the wild Pokémon, so I’m pretty good at battling. Personally, I think I’d make a great addition!”_

Kevin blinked. Chuno was actually being serious. And… as much as Kevin hated to admit it, from the looks of things, the Raichu looked to be a formidable opponent. He _would_ be valuable to have on their side.

“You’re not seriously considering this, are you?!” Kari shouted, stomping the ground and creating a small earthquake that knocked Kevin back to earth. He frowned and looked up at the sky.

“Well…” He narrowed his eyes before snapping his head back forward again. “No. We already have an electric type and adding another one to the team, regardless of how strong you are, would only give us a disadvantage. I’m not stupid enough to make a team where half of the members are weak to a type as common as ground!”

Kevin turned around quickly and started to walk down the road again. “Come on. We’ve got stuff to do,” he said to Kari. Yeesh. He dodged a bullet there.

Confused, Kari happily left Chuno and trotted up behind him. “Y-yeah, you’re right,” she agreed.

When Chuno was out of earshot, Kari stepped on Kevin’s tail. Cringing, he turned around. “What?”

“Half the team is good against ground, too, aren’t we?” she asked, her eyebrow raised. “Mist and I can handle them, and Styler’s immune…”

Kevin didn’t answer right away, instead continuing to walk again. “…Yeah, well, _he_ doesn’t need to know that.”

Her eyes widened for a split second before she broke into a warm smile. “Mm. I see.”

The pair walked the rest of the way in silence. Kevin figured some things were better left unsaid.

*

Kevin never really expected to find an answer to the teammate problems, at least, not one that wasn’t Chuno. But as they reached the Sunyshore Pokémon Center, he was pleasantly surprised. Lana noticed a poster on the wall and called him over to see it.

“It’s a starter giveaway, see? Any trainer with two or more badges can call Professor Elm and get a Pokémon all the way from Johto!”

Kevin eyed the poster. He wasn’t that familiar with Johto, but he recognized the Pokémon in the middle. “Sounds pretty lucky. We should sign up.” He frowned a little. Starters weren’t exactly the most experienced Pokémon, but with some luck, Kevin figured they might get an older one like Kari.

The Sinnoh starter wandered over to them. “Oh? Which one are we picking?” she asked, setting her gaze upon the poster as well.

“Cyndaquil,” Kevin said.

“Uh… is that a good idea, though? I mean, that’d make half the team weak to ground, too—”

“And water would make us half-weak to electric, and another grass would make half of us weak to ice. Either way, we’ll have a team like that, but at least we have a decent amount of counters for ground or rock types. Fire’s our best bet.” He grinned. “Plus, since I’m fire type, it’ll be easier for me to train them. Sounds like the best choice to me.”

Kari raised an eyebrow. “Well. Type advantages are hard wired into your brain, I guess. All right, that’s fine with me.” She smiled.

Kevin returned it and then turned to Lana. “Right. So what do you have to do to get ‘em?”

“The poster says to just call… You probably have to go use a phone with a transfer machine. Uh, I’ll go get it, then.” She then ran off towards the other end of the lobby.

Kari smiled. “Thank goodness she’s feeling happy. She’s been upset the past little while,” she said.

“So I noticed.” Kevin scoffed. “Then again… I guess I kind of took over all the Pokémon training.” He crossed his arms. It wasn’t like Lana outright called him out on it, though, so he’d assumed she didn’t have too much of a problem with it.

“Yeah, you kind of did. And you’re not half bad at it, you know. _He_ could learn a thing or two from you,” Kari said.

Kevin frowned. “The Shade’s powerful enough as-is. And I doubt he’d ever accept training from me, of all people.” Whatever. When he eventually got to confront the Shade, Kevin would definitely teach him a thing or two… with Aerial Ace, that is.

He noticed Kari biting her lip. “What?” he asked.

She sighed. She’d been doing that a lot lately. “I… I really think I should tell you something, Kevin.”

Her tone of voice made him feel uneasy. She was using the same tone she had used when they were walking in Iron Island, and she was telling him about the escape accident.

_“That was when I told him I loved him.”_

His eyes widened suddenly. Nononononononono—

“Kevin?” she asked. He quickly snapped back to reality and laughed a little.

“Heh… Uh, Kari, whatever it is, um, it can wait, can’t it? I mean, I’m busy going over strategies and stuff, so, um,” _damn it,_ “you can tell me later, right?”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s pretty important, and I’d rather you know now,” she pressed.

“Look, it’s just… I’ve got a lot on my mind right now, you know? I think it’d be better if you waited until after the gym when my head’s clear, okay?” Arceus, she was _twenty-four years old._ Not to mention a _turtle_.

Kari was about to say something, but she stopped, a confused expression clouding her face. “Whoa, wait, do you know what I’m trying to tell you? But you can’t,” she said.

Kevin grimaced. “I think I have a pretty good idea. So you don’t need to say anything, ‘kay?”

She shook her head. “What the heck do you think I’m talking about, Kevin?” she asked, clearly perplexed. Kevin opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He was relieved when Lana came back, holding a Pokéball. “Hey, I got it!”

Quickly, he tried to regain his composure. “Oh, really? That’s great! Uh, let’s see!” Anything, anything, to get him out of answering Kari’s question. _Anything_.

Lana nodded and fumbled with the button, enlarging the Pokéball before releasing the Pokémon inside. In a flash of white light, a small, cute-looking starter appeared.

Except it wasn’t a Cyndaquil. It was a girly little grass type.

Arceus- _freaking_ -damn.


	28. Chapter 28

He glared at the green grass type in front of him. “That’s not a Cyndaquil.”

The grass type, who was smiling previously, was taken aback. “Huh?”

“You’re not a Cyndaquil. Why aren’t you a Cyndaquil?” Between this and Kari, Kevin felt like exploding any second.

The grass type was incredulous. “I’m sorry if my species _offends_ you, but if I’m here that obviously means I was picked!”

“ _Cyn-da-quil_ ,” Kevin emphasized. He facepalmed and headed over to one of the lobby’s couches. “I need to sit down.”

He had barely settled down into the leather cushion when the Pokémon followed him. He tried to give the kid the evil eye, but to no avail.

“What’s wrong with me, anyway?” The grass type pouted.

“Grass type sucks,” muttered Kevin.

“Oh, that’s nice,” chimed in Kari sarcastically. Kevin growled.

“With another grass type, not only are we half-weak to ice, but flying, too. We don’t need this little girl when we’ve already got you, Kari,” He tried to be calm, lest he set the entire Pokémon Center on fire.

The grass type fumed. “I’m not a girl! My name is Chikoro!”

Kevin glared. “I don’t care. You’re still useless.”

“Hey, Chump, stop being an ass. It was a simple mistake. We’ll just call the professor again and get things sorted out, all right?” Kari said, her voice surprisingly soft. He nodded reluctantly.

Chikoro, however, shook his head. “No way! If I go back, I’ll never get picked!” The look of despair on his face was somehow heart wrenching, even though Kevin was still thoroughly annoyed with the little leaf-head.

Kari frowned. “What do you mean? With a face like yours, you’ll win over a kid in no time!” Kevin found it weird that she could encourage the brat like that, even when Kari herself hated being stuck in a lab.

“No! You don’t get it! Everyone who wants to pick me wants to use me for dumb girly contests and stuff! I want to battle!” He stomped his single-toed foot for emphasis. “You guys look strong, so you’re battlers, right?”

Kevin found himself growling again. “Yes. We battle. And honestly, kid? You look like a contest type. We’re sending you back.” He narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean, I look like a contest type? My dad won sixteen badges—”

“Are you your dad? And you look like a contest type because you _do_. No doubt you know a bunch of flowery moves that a crowd would find dazzling. You’d do well in contests, not all-out battling.” Kevin rose from his seat and glared down at the kid. If Chikoro was really a boy, then he couldn’t be very old. Heck, his voice was higher than Kyle’s, and that didn’t happen very often.

“Oh yeah?” Chikoro yelled, gritting his teeth. “Prove it, then!”

Rolling his eyes, Kevin crossed his arms. “Fine. Synthesis, Poison Powder, Petal Dance, and Solar Beam.”

Chikoro frowned, throwing back his head so that the leaf that adorned it flopped over to the other side of his face. “And what does that list have to do with anything?”

“Well,” Kevin said, forming a grin, “those moves all have something in common. Do you know what it is?”

“I learn them all,” said Chikoro, though he didn’t look too sure.

“Yeah, that’s true… But they also _sparkle_ ,” Kevin flicked his tail. “Sparkles! That’s, like, the number one thing you need to be successful at contests! Even moves that don’t regularly sparkle are altered in a way so they do! And that is proof enough that grass types in general are contest material! Now, if you were a species like Kari, and actually had some power behind all the flashy stuff, then maybe I’d reconsider. But you’re not, so no. You’re going back to Johto.”

The small grass type was silent, but his glare held steady. Kevin wished the kid would accept his fate and go home already, but the brat was determined. It was a minute or two before someone finally broke the silence.

“That was a little harsh, don’t you think?” Kari’s said flatly, her face a complete match.

He frowned. “No. Come on… _Kari_ ,” he said. His plea was ignored.

“You’re talking to a child, _Slick_. At least try to be nice about it,” A lecture on etiquette from Kari was the last thing he needed. Why couldn’t they just send the dumb kid back?

“Huh? Slick?” Chikoro repeated, his eyes suddenly widening. “Wait a minute, that means you’re that guy!”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “…That guy?”

“Yeah! The guy who nobody knows anything about! They say he just showed up out of nowhere winning gym badges and stuff, but he’s also somehow related to the Shade.” Chikoro grinned. “And he’s really good, too, even though he isn’t fully evolved. You’re really him?”

Blinking in confusion, Kevin nodded. “Uh, yeah?”

“Whoa! So it’s all true? You’re like, the Shade’s son or whatever?” Chikoro was utterly gleeful. Kevin was not.

“ _No_! Anyone who heard that interview could tell the reporter was just grasping at straws!” Kevin lowered his voice. “If you must know, he’s my uncle.”

Chikoro beamed. “Wow, that’s so cool! On your mom’s side or your dad’s side? He barely looks anything like you, so—”

“Chikoro, please, you shouldn’t pester him like that. We… We don’t really talk about th-the Shade.” Uh oh. Why was Kari getting all emotional again? Did the little brat say something…?

“Oh… Well, okay! Then why do you have blue eyes? ‘Cause apparently those aren’t natural or something.” Oy vey. The kid just didn’t know how to take a hint.

Kari softened her expression. “We’ll tell you all that stuff later, okay? Right now, I need to have a talk with, er, Slick.” It felt very weird to have Kari call him that, though Kevin had to admit, it wasn’t as awkward as _dear_.

*

The two stood outside the Sunyshore Pokémon Center, onlookers to the sea in the distance. The ocean. It reminded Kevin of the Petalburg coastline, a beach he’d seldom visited but always secretly liked, even with all the water. He really wanted to be back in Hoenn right now, savouring the heat and abundance of food, unlike Sinnoh’s dreadful climate. Oh well. He was almost there.

Kari stood next to him, a look of worry clouding her face. He knew what she was going to say, but he really didn’t want to hear what she was going to tell him. At least, not now. Kevin sighed deeply.

“Kari?” he asked. The Torterra looked up. “Um… Before you say anything, can I say something first?”

The turtle considered this for a moment, and then nodded. “All right.”

He was thankful that he did have something to talk to her about, otherwise he’d be screwed. “Um, back up in Snowpoint… I didn’t tell you, because you were mad at me, but, uh, I saw my dad.”

Kari was quite surprised. “Really? What was your father doing up there?”

“Oh, he wasn’t there in person,” Kevin clarified, frowning a little. His mouth had begun to taste sour. “He was on a television interview. He was talking about some sort of invention he made. One that let Pokémon speak the human language.”

“Yes,” Kari nodded. “I remember when it first came out. It was quite the phenomenon, and it spread very quickly. It changed the entire world.”

Kevin frowned. “You didn’t have one, though, did you? That’s why you sound like your throat’s made of sandpaper.” After a quick thought, he added, “No offense.”

“You’re correct.” Kevin expected her to say more, but she remained silent.

“Um… In that interview, my dad was human,” he said. She nodded again.

“You told me about a machine of some sort, right? One that made Pokémon into humans? He must have used that. Why? Does that upset you, Kevin?” Kari looked up, her eyes drilling a hole through his head. How her stare could be so piercing, he’d never know.

He shrugged, looking away from her. “Well, I don’t know. It’s just— It doesn’t make sense. He says he’s doing it all for the Shade, but they’re enemies! My uncle and my dad never got along. Uncle Mono’s even gone so far as to call us demons! I just don’t get it, Kari. This whole thing with the Shade contradicts everything I’ve ever known.”

“Kevin, just think about it for a second. It’s really easy, and you’ve got all the pieces. Try and think it over, right here, right now.” Kari stared at the ground once more.

Frustrated, Kevin obeyed and began to mull over everything again in his mind.

The Shade was a mysterious person. Nobody knew much about him, other than that he was morally ambiguous and stuff. Kevin had already figured his identity through the process of elimination, since Uncle Mono was the only living, male Monferno that was related to him. From what he knew of Uncle Mono, he was an awful person convinced that anyone who didn’t conform to the normality of the Mount Chimney clan was a demon. Therefore, he went to Sinnoh for some reason…?

Right. He had gotten caught, and was put into a Pokémon lab with Kari. That was where Uncle Mono got the idea for the Shades. For some reason Kevin couldn’t fathom, Kari fell in love with him, and that was when he left. He must have learned human speech sometime then, too. Then, he made his way to the Battle Frontier, founded his group, and…

What did the Shades even _do_? It had something to do with Pokémon rights, but… Even after all this time, Kevin was still unsure. He frowned. Kari had to be wrong. He didn’t have all the pieces to the puzzle.

“What do the Shades do, Kari?” he asked, not bothering to face her. He hoped she’d give him a straight answer.

“They’re a group of Pokémon who wish to improve the way the world works by giving both Pokémon and humans equal rights. They also do odd jobs on the side to raise money, but that tends to be ignored,” Kari replied quietly. Pretty straight.

He sighed. That didn’t add up, though. Uncle Mono thought that humans were unintelligent home invaders, nothing more. He wouldn’t want to be considered equal to them, he’d want to be superior. But that was the goal of a Naturalist, and apparently they and the Shades were bitter enemies.

So something in his deduction was wrong. “Why did the Shade come here, Kari?”

“To find you,” she replied.

“But I wasn’t here until recently,” Kevin said. Kari shook her head.

“He hitched a ride on the wrong boat. Then he was stuck in the lab with me for three years. By then, he gave up and decided to do something else with his life,” she narrowed her eyes. “Have you figured it out yet?”

Kevin glared at his feet. “No! Let me think!”

Glaring, the Torterra stomped her foot. “For god’s sake! The Shade is—”

“You done talking yet?” asked a loud voice. Kevin groaned. Surely enough, he heard the sound of four, tiny hooves stepping closer. (If they could even be called hooves, he wasn’t sure.) Chikoro wandered up to them with a smile on his face. “I mean, you said you’d tell me everything, right?”

“Later,” Kevin said through his teeth. He was glad he wasn’t as clueless as this kid when he was younger. At least, he didn’t think he was ever this annoying.

“Oh, please.” Chikoro laughed, extending a vine from one of the thorns on his neck and waving it around. Kevin guessed he was trying to use it as a hand. “Chikoro the Chikorita can’t be put off so easily! I’m resilient! You promised, so I wanna know!”

“Chikoro, do you even know what resilient means?” Kari muttered, sighing.

He nodded confidently. “It means I don’t give up! So?” He grinned. “Why does Slickky have blue eyes?”

“Slickky?” Kevin asked, turning to face the kid. “Have you been talking to Lana?”

He smiled. “Yeah, she kept calling you that! Uh, it’s okay if I call you that too, right?”

Kari slowly turned around as well. “It doesn’t matter what you call him, Chikoro. Either way, we’re not ready to talk to you yet, all right? We’re in the middle of a very important conversation and—”

“No, Kari, it’s all right. I need more time to think, anyway,” Kevin said. “To answer your question, Chikoro, um… It’s because I’m not fully Monferno, that’s all. You know, since the clans are pretty tight, uh, it’s rare for them not to be purebred, so, yeah.” He figured it was an okay explanation. It was half of the truth, anyway, and he doubted anything less would shut the little brat up.

Chikoro blinked. “Oh, so is that why your uncle hates you? ‘Cause you’re not purebred? That’s dumb.” He frowned.

“Yeah, well, that’s the way he is,” Kevin muttered.

There was silence for approximately half a second before it was broken again. “Lana told me you’re battling in the League!” Chikoro half-shouted.

Kevin nodded curtly. “That’s right.”

“Does that mean I’m battling with you guys? Aw, sweet!” Chikoro grinned childishly and started laughing. “This’ll be great!”

Kari spoke up this time. “Chikoro? Er, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Slickky here doesn’t think he can train you quickly enough in time, so I’m afraid—”

“What?! Oh, come on! I’m plenty strong, you know!” He flipped his leaf to the other side of his face again, an action Kevin assumed was a habit of his. “Just because I’m a starter doesn’t mean I haven’t trained myself in the lab.”

Kevin groaned. “Gah! So what, are you going to brag about your dad again? It doesn’t matter if you’ve done personal training or not. The fact of the matter is that you’re still a basic stage, frilly contest type with only two weeks left until the league. Unless you convince me you’re really special, I don’t see this working out, kid!”

Chikoro’s large eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge I hear?”

“Damn right it’s a challenge,” Kevin growled. The Chikorita nodded curtly and started walking to the empty yard a few feet away that belonged to the Pokémon Center. When he got to the middle of the field, he stopped and shouted to Kevin.

“Fine! Let’s have a battle right here, right now! I’ll show you I’m not the type to give up – or compete in girly contests!”

Kevin grunted and stretched out his arms. “Fine. Humour me.”

After all, he was hardly the type to give up, either.


	29. Chapter 29

The two stood, centered in the grassy field, not daring to take their eyes off each other. Kevin smirked. He couldn’t believe this kid. A little grass type issuing a sort-of-not-really battle invitation to a fire type? And if that wasn’t enough, Chikoro thought he was going to _win_. How naïve.

The grass type smirked. “I know what you’re thinking! I’m a stupid little kid for challenging you, right?”

“Pretty much,” Kevin answered, a drawl inching its way into his voice. Well, there was nothing saying this battle couldn’t be fun.

“Well then, prepare to taste the horrible, bitter flavour of eating your _words_!” shouted Chikoro enthusiastically.

Kevin couldn’t help but laugh. “All right then, kid! Take a shot!”

He saw Chikoro grit his teeth. It was likely he hadn’t yet thought of his first move. Kevin smirked. It reminded him of the few times his little brother actually tried to challenge him. Deciding to at least be nice, Kevin waited.

After a few moments, Chikoro decided on his attack. He swiftly shot a green ball of energy out of his mouth, taking Kevin by mild surprise. He’d seen that move once or twice on TV before… what was it, Energy Ball? Regardless of its name, it was a grass type move. Was the kid really that dumb?

Kevin stepped out of the way, allowing the attack to hit the battlefield behind him. He narrowed his eyes. Maybe he could give Chikoro a little credit. He was smart enough to go for a ranged attack and stay a safe distance from his opponent. But then, surely, he’d have to notice he was in range for a Flamethrower.

As soon as he saw his Energy Ball miss, Chikoro back stepped. Ha, so he was decent in theory. Kevin guessed that made sense for a Pokémon stuck in a lab his whole life. He smiled. Well, it couldn’t hurt to see what else Chikoro could do.

Going for a Flame Wheel, Kevin somersaulted into a fireball and spun full speed ahead. Chikoro uttered a cry and did his best to dodge, doing rather well for something unexpected. Other than a graze, Kevin doubted he managed to hurt the kid that much. Interesting.

Kevin waited until he was a few feet away before stopping his Flame Wheel. He frowned; if Chikoro had the potential, then maybe he would be useful in the league…

Chikoro was frowning as well. Oh, screw it, Kevin needed to give him advice.

“Hey! Here’s a tip!” Kevin called, grinning upon seeing Chikoro’s furious face.

“I don’t need any help!” he retorted.

Kevin shook his head. “I don’t care, I’m telling you anyway. Try a physical attack if your range isn’t working!”

“Why would I do that? You’re just trying to trick me into getting closer so you can burn me to death!” To emphasize his point, Chikoro stepped back further.

“Not really,” Kevin muttered. He glanced over to where Energy Ball had landed on the field. Sure enough, there wasn’t much of an impact there to begin with. “I just don’t think your range is that good.”

The Chikorita was unimpressed. He flipped the leaf on his head, sending some tiny purple spores towards Kevin. Poison Powder, most likely. Kevin sighed and shot a Flamethrower, fizzling them before they could reach him.

“See? You’re not good with that kind of stuff. Try something physical, come on.” Normally, Kevin wouldn’t be talking to his opponent like this, but it was a special case today… Or something.

Chikoro pouted. “What am I supposed to use? Tackle? Vine Whip?”

Kevin shrugged. “You know what you can do more than I do,” he said.

For a few minutes, neither of them made a move. Kevin stood his ground; wanting to give Chikoro a chance to come up with something at the very least. The Chikorita had narrowed his eyes to dangerous slits, thinking hard. Kevin sighed. The kid had to come up with _something_.

A blink. Two blinks. The grass type’s frown steadily changed into a grin. “Hey, Slickky, I think I’ve got something. You wanna see it?”

Kevin smiled in amusement. “Yep.”

“Okay!” Chikoro nodded. “Um… It might not work, though,” he added, frowning slightly.

“I’m waiting,” Kevin said, resisting the urge to tap his foot.

Chikoro took a deep breath. “’Kay,” he said. He opened his mouth and began charging an Energy Ball.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Well, if that was the way Chikoro wanted to do things, then whatever. Energy Ball was probably one of his favourites. Kevin crossed his arms, awaiting Chikoro’s attack.

With a quick flip of his head, Chikoro had enveloped himself in the Energy Ball and began to roll. Kevin widened his eyes. Was this… A grass type version of Flame Wheel? Er… Okay?

Chikoro’s velocity wasn’t very fast, but he still managed to propel himself enough to crash into Kevin’s leg. Kevin smirked. “Interesting idea. You may want to try going faster,” he said.

Chikoro frowned and stood up. “How? That hurt me more than it hurt you.” He shook his head to clear it.

“You’re not using any muscle power, that’s why. You can’t just somersault and expect to go flying.” Kevin crouched, shifting himself into a position akin to one a runner would take before running a race. “Look, you’ve gotta use your arms— Oh.”

“Yeah. Not going to happen,” muttered Chikoro, looking quite displeased.

Kevin frowned. “There has to be a way to get around that,” he said, standing up again.

“A way to get around that? Seriously? What, you think I can somehow magically grow arms or something?” He glared to the side. “Okay, I get it already. I can’t battle well. Just send me back.”

“Huh? But if you can come up with something like that…” Kevin turned around. “Hey, Kari! Have you been watching?”

The Torterra nodded. She seemed to be trying to hold back a smile with little success. “Yes, I have!”

“Great. So, uh, can you think of anything?” Kevin asked. He figured that if he couldn’t think of something, Kari would know of some specific thing a grass type could do or something along the lines of that.

Kari trotted up to the two of them, smirking. “Look at you. It barely took you two minutes to forget everything and start training this kid.” She turned to Chikoro. “As for the question, isn’t it obvious?”

Kevin growled. “It’s never obvious when you think it is, Kari,” he said, his tail flicking.

She did her equivalent of a shrug, which was merely rolling her head, and smirked. “All right, all right. Let me give you a hint, Chikoro. When you need to pick something up, what do you do?”

“I use Vine Whip,” he said. “Oh!”

“Exactly. You see? Problem solved. Though I wish _Slickky_ here could spell things out for himself for once.” The rare smirk reverted back to the disappointed frown usually adorning her face.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “You really think I can spell if I can’t read?”

Kari shook her head. “You’re hopeless, you know that?” she muttered before walking back to where she originally stood as a spectator.

He pursed his lips. He knew she wasn’t asking if he could literally spell, but still. Wouldn’t it just be easier for her to not riddle everything with subtle clues everywhere? Arceus.

“You can’t read?” questioned Chikoro, incredulous.

Kevin blinked, arriving back to reality. “Eh? Oh, well… It doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s test this move of yours, okay?”

*

Kevin had to give Chikoro a lot of credit. He didn’t realize the kid actually knew what he was talking about when he said he could battle (though Kevin was still convinced he’d perform excellently in a contest). It was also obvious the kid had also spent some time watching talented battlers like he himself had.

Still, an unevolved, basic staged Pokémon without much experience wasn’t exactly a good choice for the League. And that was why they were grinding like hell.

Sure, Kevin figured he was going to force everyone to train like mad no matter what, but Chikoro had to do triple the fighting to even think about catching up to the rest of the team. Needless to say, he wasn’t very happy about it.

“Can’t you just buy an experience share for me?” he panted, slumping over to rest after taking out his bazillionth wild Pokémon.

Kevin frowned. “I don’t know what that is, but no. There’s no substitute for pure, ruthless grinding, and that’s the way I like it,” he said, doing a fist pump.

Chikoro narrowed his eyes. “Right. Because grinding is _so much fun_ ,” he seethed.

“It’s training here or going back to Johto,” Kevin said.

“Fine,” muttered Chikoro.

And so it went on. Before Kevin knew it, a week went by, and they had gotten their final gym badge. All in all, the journey across Sinnoh was coming to a close… and it couldn’t come any sooner.

Some spare change and several ferry tickets later, the team was on a boat towards the island where the League was being held. They had thankfully caught the last ferry before the obligatory Christmas break, a date which Kevin had nearly forgotten about. It wasn’t like he had really celebrated the holiday before, but it was weird to think that this would be the first holiday without his mom or little brother around.

So he stood, against the guardrail overlooking the frigid ocean. He sighed. What was the point of putting the League on an island, anyway? Hoenn did it too, but a third of the region _was_ ocean, so they had an excuse. Sinnoh didn’t.

“Kevin,” said a familiar voice. He turned around.

“What do you want, Kari?” he asked the Torterra, knowing the answer.

She rolled her eyes. “What do you think? You’ve had plenty of time to think about it. Have you figured it all out yet?”

Kevin turned back towards the sea. “I haven’t been thinking about it at all, actually. I’ve been busy preparing for the League. And quite frankly, I’m too tired to think about the Shade now.”

Kari sighed. “How long are you going to keep avoiding this?”

Kevin didn’t answer. The turtle went on.

“You do know there’s something wrong with what you’ve deduced, right? And that I know the answer? Give me one reason I shouldn’t tell you the truth right now.” He felt her glaring at his back.

He shook his head. “I don’t need any distractions right now. We’re going to the League. I need to concentrate on that. Or do you want us to fail and not rank high enough to get to the Battle Frontier? That’s how it works, isn’t it?”

“There are other ways to get there,” Kari said immediately, as if she’d predicted his answer. “Styler could fly there. I bet if we tried, we could get tickets anyway, since you’ve become sort of famous.”

“A flight across the ocean to a destination you’ve never been to before is all kinds of risky,” muttered Kevin. “And I want to be in this tournament. Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to. This is my only chance, Kari.”

She scoffed. “Only chance? There will be plenty of other opportunities, Kevin! The June competition, for instance? Anyway, that’s not even the point. You still need to know the truth, whether you want to or not.”

“Kari—”

“Kevin, the Shade is—”

“What’re you yelling about?” Chikoro wandered up to them, once again, interrupting Kari at the exact same moment.

“Damn it! Chikoro, we are in the middle of something important—”

“You said that last time. What’s so important, anyway? Is it like, private or something?” Kevin took the time to turn around, silently thankful that Chikoro was stalling. It wasn’t like Kevin couldn’t figure out the “answer” if he took the time to think about it.

Kari growled. “Yes! It’s very private! That’s why you need to go away so we can talk!”

The Chikorita pouted. “What, is it like some super secret Slickky versus the Shade battle? Come on, guys! I’m part of your team now, I won’t tell anyone else!”

“No! It’s not anything like that! Now please just _go away_ , Chikoro. I’m not trying to be mean!” To emphasize her point, Kari quickly put on a more sympathetic expression. “You see, when you get older, Chikoro, you’ll understand.”

Chikoro raised an eyebrow. “What? Um… What?” The Chikorita turned to Kevin for an answer. “Are you really talking about something _that_ private?”

“ _Yes_ ,” said Kari. “So you see, that’s why you need to leave.”

Kevin folded his arms. “Er, no, actually, he doesn’t have to leave,” he said quickly, suddenly getting an idea. “Since he guessed right and all, that is.”

The nine-year-old’s face lit up. “Whoa! So you’re really going to battle the Shade? That’ll be so epic!”

“Uh, yeah, I guess. That’s a weird way to put it, but whatever.” Yeesh, it wasn’t like he was going to battle a legendary Pokémon or something. Then again, it was probably just slang.

“So, what’s your plan? Have you seen him battle on TV? He’s okay, but I think you’re better, ‘cause he relies on his speed way too much and if you can cripple him somehow he’ll probably be a piece of cake, I mean—”

Kevin laughed. “I don’t really have a plan, but… Go on.” Well, Kari wasn’t going to know the Shade’s battle techniques, so Chikoro was all he had.

Chikoro nodded emphatically. “’Kay. See, he stays far away a lot, I think, ‘cause he never seems to want to get too hurt. Or maybe he just doesn’t want his sweater to get dirty, I don’t know.”

“He wears a sweater?” Kevin asked in confusion.

“I told you that already, you moron,” piped up an irritated Kari.

Kevin thought back. If she had mentioned anything about a sweater, he sure as hell didn’t remember anything about it. “Um, why, though?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re his nephew, aren’t you?” Chikoro said, smirking.

Kari cleared her throat. Kevin faced her, waiting for her to say something, but she didn’t. Instead, she winked her left eye rather aggressively. Oh, wait…

If the Shade had gotten fatally wounded, there were probably noticeable scars wherever he was injured. A sweater would attract a lot of attention and an air of mystery, but that was nothing compared to the attention he’d get from ugly, gruesome scars. Keeping that sweater as undamaged as possible would continue to hide everything underneath. All right then.

“Er, right, I just remembered why. Never mind.” Wanting to change subjects so Chikoro couldn’t press him about it, Kevin added, “So he’s trying to keep himself safe from attacks, right?”

Chikoro nodded. “Yeah. He tends to go for Flamethrowers, even if they’re not very good against whoever he’s battling.” Chikoro thought for a moment. “I bet if you could get him with a move he can’t dodge no matter where he is, the fight will be yours, Slickky.”

Kevin frowned. “He can’t be that easy. He must have a strategy for opponents who go close range. I mean, otherwise… Unless he’s got cronies to help him out or something.”

“The other Shades? Maybe, but everything I’ve seen on TV had him battling alone.” Chikoro shook his head. “Even then… Slickky, I don’t think he’s as powerful as you think he is. The Shade’s just built up this reputation that he’s really strong, but he’s not.”

Sighing, Kevin considered Chikoro’s suggestion. Maybe he was right… If Uncle Mono could just intimidate everyone by leering at them instead of actually proving he was a force to be reckoned with, then he’d probably do that.

“Okay, but are you sure?” Kevin asked.

“Positive! The guy’s a stick. Hit him before he can hit you and you’re good!” Chikoro assured.

Kevin nodded redundantly. “Okay then. I guess I’ll just Aerial Ace his ass back to Mount Chimney and be on my merry way,” he said half-sarcastically.

Kari scoffed. “Suit yourself.”

He sighed. He was almost done. All he needed to do was get through it.


	30. Chapter 30

The stadium’s heavy assortment of advertisements loomed overhead, informing everyone rather pointlessly that they were at the Pokémon League. Of course, for someone like Kevin who couldn’t read or even see them well, the signs were even more pointless, but at least they brightened the place.

As per regular happenings on day one of a league tournament, the official torch was lit and people started to register. And that was the problem. Kevin didn’t know if it was him or Lana who was signing up for this thing.

He was using Lana’s Pokémon, and legally, he belonged to her himself, but one thing was clear. Kevin was the one who trained everyone, not Lana, and thus he was the trainer. But then, did that exclude himself from a match? What if he fainted? Would Lana take over the battle from that point on or…?

Kevin shook his head, attempting to clear it. He supposed that would get cleared up during the screening rounds. Right now he just needed to get his (or Lana’s) name on the list.

Sucking in his breath, he walked up to the woman at the registration counter, who looked just like a Nurse Joy in a different uniform, and cleared his throat. Chikoro, who had insisted on following him, walked behind him. Nurse Joy looked at Kevin expectantly.

“Um… Can I sign up?” Kevin asked, his voice cracking. Oh, great, just great.

The nurse eyed him for a moment before turning to her laptop. “Trainer’s licence.”

“Huh?” Kevin said.

“I need a trainer’s licence in order to allow you to participate,” she said, not slipping a trace of emotion into her voice.

Damn. It was looking like he’d have to go get Lana. “Well…”

“No licence, no entry, no exceptions,” said the nurse curtly.

Kevin felt Chikoro puff up in anger behind him. “Hey! Do you know who this guy is? Slickky! Mr. Slick, nephew of the Shade! Let him enter!”

Kevin groaned. “Chikoro, shut up,” he said quietly.

“Why should I? You have a right to enter this league as much as anyone else does! Who cares if you don’t have a flimsy piece of plastic? You have _skills_ ,” Chikoro said, looking quite confident. Kevin couldn’t help but chuckle.

He turned back to the nurse. She appeared to be visibly uncomfortable after Chikoro’s outburst. “I’m sorry, but that’s the rule. We cannot verify that you’ve obtained your badges legally unless you have a trainer card.”

Chikoro was adamant. “You can just call the gym leaders, can’t you?”

Kevin frowned. “Well, maybe not…” he said. He hadn’t actually gotten that first badge; Lana had it before he joined the team. Which would mean he actually had seven badges. Damn it.

Chikoro opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by someone Kevin didn’t know. “Nurse Joy, is there a problem?” said a monotone voice.

Kevin looked up to see an old man in a brown coat staring at him. Immediately, he shuddered. There was something about the man’s piercing stare that was off. Chikoro and the nurse also seemed to be intimidated.

Nurse Joy snapped out of it and shook her head. “No sir, Professor Rowan. Standard regulations make it clear that no one may register for the Pokémon League without a trainer’s licence, and this, er, young man has none.”

Kevin frowned. Young man? The only one who’d ever called him that was his mom.

Chikoro blinked. “Wait, you’re Professor Rowan? Oh!” He turned. “Slickky, Kari would know him, right? Maybe he can help us!”

“What? Kari hates him—” Kevin blinked. “Er, I mean…”

The professor shook his head. “Save your explanations. I know what you mean. You are trying to enter this competition so you can go and find ‘Mr. Shade’, as they call him now, are you not?”

Kevin blinked, stunned. “Y-yeah,” he replied.

Professor Rowan said nothing and turned to Nurse Joy. “Since this trainer is a Pokémon with no legitimate method of obtaining a trainer’s licence, the rules for humans should not apply. I believe this trainer has the right to participate.”

Chikoro’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? Thanks, professor!”

Nurse Joy stared. “P-professor!”

“If need be, I will discuss my opinion with Champion Cynthia and Charles Goodshow,” Professor Rowan said. “However, I do not think it will come to that. After all, if word got out that this trainer was prohibited from the competition, the media would have a field day, as they say.”

Nurse Joy nodded quickly and began to tap away on her keyboard. “Of course, sir.”

Chikoro grinned. “Awesome! Hey Slickky, why does Kari hate this guy? He’s great!”

“Um…” This was the guy who had kept Kari in the lab against her will? Talk about favouritism. “No idea,” Kevin lied.

Professor Rowan nodded curtly. “I must be off. Give my regards to Kari, will you?” he asked.

“…Okay,” said Kevin in confusion.

He turned and was walking away before he stopped. “By the way, you resemble your uncle. I suggest becoming more mature to avoid his fate.” And with that, he left.

Kevin, Chikoro and the nurse all stood there, speechless. One thing was certain, and that was that Rowan was a very odd professor indeed.

“Uh, Slickky? You look nothing like your uncle,” Chikoro said.

“Yeah, well,” Kevin muttered, “maybe he was talking about the other one. I don’t know, it was too vague to tell.” He narrowed his eyes. “I mean, he’s talking like a robot or something.”

Chikoro smirked. “Maybe he _is_ a robot!”

“Ha ha. Whatever. We’re in now, right? So let’s go and get the screening round over with,” Kevin said, stretching. It was finally time to get started.

*

Screening was essentially identical to the appeals round of Pokémon Contests, except instead of being beautiful and sparkly, the goal was to battle as best you could and hope you passed. Something like that, anyway. It was the one round Kevin didn’t have much knowledge of, what with it being left out of the TV broadcasts and all.

The rules were simple and nearly the same as the first round’s: three Pokémon, single battle, but with switching allowed. From the looks of things, the league was accepting the standard sixty-four competitors, too. So overall, things were pretty normal in Crazyland.

Kevin took a quick glance around the stadium and saw that most entrants were beginner trainers and preteens. He wondered for a moment where he stood. He wasn’t much older than them himself, but he’d been battling since he could walk and that had to count for something.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a leisurely slur of a voice. _“Hello there!”_

Kevin almost jumped out of his skin. Turning around and seeing the all-too familiar face of Chuno, he glared. “What do you want?”

The Raichu laughed and shook his head. _“My boy, are we really rehashing our lines from our last encounter? Really now, be original.”_

Chikoro blinked. “Uh, who are you?” he asked.

 _“Chuno, of course! A child such as yourself may know me as ‘that lunatic person who hates the Shade’, though.”_ He smiled, and then turned back to Kevin. _“How’s he doing, anyway? Have you seen him yet?”_

Kevin rolled his eyes. “No. That’s why I’m here.” If someone like Professor Rowan knew what he was doing, why didn’t Chuno? Unless he was just joking around for whatever reason.

 _“Ah, yes, yes. Silly me. Well. After that rude departure last time, I decided to follow you again. I see you got someone else to fill that little gap in your team, too.”_ Chuno gestured to Chikoro.

Chikoro was still confused, but Kevin didn’t pay him much attention. “Look, Chuno. We’re kind of busy here. Screening, you know? So if you could just leave us alone for a while…”

The Raichu grinned. _“If you insist. I’ll be cheering you on from the bleachers, though! And give my love to Señior Sombreado when you see him!”_

“What?” Kevin asked flatly.

 _“Sombreado. Shady, en español. See you later!”_ He then ran off on all fours, giggling.

Kevin growled. “He’s so weird,” he said.

“Weird? He’s like a three year old!” exclaimed Chikoro. “He’s not one of your fans or something, is he?”

Kevin almost choked. “No! Arceus, Chikoro! He’s some guy who has this massive grudge on the Shade. He’s totally nuts. Just— Just ignore him.” Thankfully, Chikoro shrugged and didn’t press the subject any further. Kevin took the opportunity to find an empty section of stadium he could be evaluated in.

He found an unoccupied section headed by an old, balding man and walked over to it quickly, overtaking the slower people who had the same idea. The man eyed him uneasily, with a look much like the one Kevin had first gotten at the grocery store way back when in early November or so. Chikoro didn’t seem to care, grinning childishly at the man.

“Hey! You gonna screen us or something?” he asked, once again flipping his leaf to the side of his face. The old man’s look changed to one Kevin called the what-is-it-with-you-kids-these-days face as he nodded. Well, at least this guy wasn’t going to give him any trouble.

Kevin glanced around, looking for Lana and the rest of the team. If they were going to do the screening, everyone had to be there. He had a feeling that this was the part where the officials tested for illegal drugs, too, and having over half your team missing was overly suspicious. Finally spotting them beside a vending machine, he waved them over, and the old man started.

“Right then. Trainer name?” the man asked.

Chikoro answered, “Slickky!”

The old man raised an eyebrow and looked up from his papers. “So you’re the one they’re talking about nowadays, eh? Seems like just yesterday they were more concerned about Clefairy invasions…”

Kevin chuckled nervously, wondering if Bill could have possibly originated from one of the supposed “invasions”. He nodded. “That’s me. Um, that shouldn’t be a problem, since we got it cleared up at the front desk—”

“By Professor Rowan himself, no less, I see. We have nothing else on file for you, though, so I’ll have to ask you some questions,” Kevin felt Kari tense up behind him. Oh, right. He’d have to explain that to her later. He nodded again.

The old man put on his reading glasses and picked up a pen. “Full name?”

Arceus, did they really want to know everything? Figuring they couldn’t possibly have any way to verify he was being truthful, Kevin answered, “Slick.”

“Shall I put the surname as Monferno, then?” asked the old man.

“Sure.” Kevin shrugged. Slick Monferno. That sounded like a bad movie or something. Why had he thought it sounded good, again? He didn’t really feel like giving any alternates, though, since “Slickky Monferno” was even worse, so he went with it.

The old man scribbled Kevin’s new name on the paper, the looked up. “Date of birth?”

Kevin blinked. This was going to be harder than he thought, but he had no idea what else to say. “October 23rd, 1986,” he said slowly, noticing everyone else stare at him in alarm. He sighed. Why was there always something he had to explain?

Chikoro’s jaw hung open. “Eh? You’re not that old, are you? No way!”

“But that’s the truth,” Kevin said, regretting it. Why couldn’t he just say he was a decade younger and be on with it? He looked up to the old man, who was looking at him with a disdainful expression. “Look, that’s when I was born, and that’s what the question’s asking, okay?”

The old man shook his head in disbelief. “Whatever you say. There have been stranger claims before,” he said. Kevin was just glad that the guy wasn’t giving him hell. “Hometown?”

“Petalburg Woods, Hoenn,” Kevin replied, hoping there wasn’t anything wrong with his answer this time. Thankfully, nobody gave him any grief, so the old man continued with the questions and Kevin continued answering them. Eventually, they finally moved on to the battle portion of the screening, which was so uneventful that Kevin barely paid any attention. After that, they were free to go to the competitors’ quarters and hang out for a bit.

Kevin wanted nothing more than to take a nap, but the angry glare that Kari had been giving him for the last hour or so was starting to wear him down. Finally, he caved, and walked with Kari outside to explain things.

“Rowan just showed up and told the nurse to let me compete, I swear. Then he told me to tell you ‘hi’, and left. Other than his creepy stare, he wasn’t that bad,” Kevin said upon reaching the frigid air of the outside courtyard. Kari sighed in frustration.

“And I’m your mother. I don’t buy it, Kevin. What really happened?” She sent another glare straight for him, this one colder than anything outside.

Kevin shrugged. “But I’m not lying, really! I don’t know why he did that for me, but it got us into the league, so I’m grateful for it. You sure there aren’t two Professor Rowans or something?”

Kari shook her head in exasperation. “I just can’t see him doing a favour for you just like that, especially considering he never let me out of the lab.” She eyed the ground, crushing the remnants of an autumn leaf. “And he didn’t say anything else?”

He crushed a leaf as well. “Other than that I resemble my uncle and I should be more mature? No,” he replied.

“You don’t say,” Kari muttered. “Well, I suppose he had some sort of ulterior motive that I can’t fathom. Whatever it is, I don’t care. Professor Rowan can go to hell.”

Kevin chuckled. “That’s a bit violent by your standards, don’t you think?”

“Well, that’s how much I hate him. You can like him, that’s fine, but I sure as hell never will.” She paused, fishing for something else to say. “Um… So how does the league work, anyway? Everyone seems to know except me.”

Kevin smirked. “The standard league is a six round tournament. Usually, the first three rounds are three on three knockout matches and the last three are full battles. As far as I know, the rules are standard for this one.”

“And the trainers? How do you prepare against who you’re battling?” asked Kari.

“Everyone’s profile is put into the database, and you can look up their teams there, I think. Pretty simple,” Kevin said.

The turtle nodded. “So all we have to do is wait to see who we’re matched up against, then look them up on the computers? Okay. So when do we see our opponent?”

Kevin shrugged. “Screening should be over by now, so, any moment?”

Out of curiosity, Kevin glanced over to the giant screen set up to give people outside the stadium a view of ongoing matches. Sure enough, the screen was lit, and the matchups were being posted. Kevin and Kari wandered over closer, mostly to give him a better look.

“Hell no,” Kari muttered. Kevin squinted to see who he’d been paired up with.

He felt his stomach turn. Beside his hastily taken picture was another orange face, this one grinning, with overly large teeth and eyes.

 _Naturally_.


	31. Chapter 31

“How did Chuno even get in? I had enough trouble as it is, and I actually had badges!” Kevin fumed, pacing the room. He didn’t care that the carpet was going from beige to charcoal; it looked better like that anyway.

“He probably has connections. You know he’s not seriously competing—”

“I don’t care about that! The only reason he’s doing this is because we refused his stupid alliance! Arceus, I’m not fighting him! How do we get him out of here?” Looking to Kari yielded no answers, so he glanced around the rest of the room. Unfortunately, he was met with a bunch of perplexed faces. Kevin growled.

“H-hey, Slickky! Cool off! Rage quitting isn’t going to solve anything!” said Chikoro, who was following Kevin’s steps tenderly, trying not to burn his feet. “Besides, if you win, it doesn’t matter, right?”

Kevin stopped, thinking. Well, that was true. If he beat Chuno, he’d move up and proceed as normal in the rest of the tournament. He sighed. “This is just like that one contest I saw, where this guy with five ribbons entered just to stop this other person from getting to the Grand Festival…”

“Except in this case,” Kari said sternly, catching his attention, “it’s not going to be much of a challenge. You said the first round is three on three, right? Chuno’s only one Pokémon. He can’t beat three of us that easily.”

“Yeah, I guess,” muttered Kevin. He supposed he was making a pretty big deal over it. Kari could probably knock him out in one Earthquake, so there was nothing to worry about.

There was a knock on the door. Mist got up to open it, carefully stepping around the charred carpet. She turned the knob, stepping back as soon as she saw who was there.

Chuno was standing on the other side, grinning like mad. Oddly, he was wearing a fedora and trench coat. He tipped his hat and strode in. “How are you all doing today?”

Kevin stared, stunned. Not only was _the Naturalist_ wearing clothes, but he was speaking plain human, to boot. “Um… What?”

“I said, how are you doing? Isn’t it lovely outside? For December, I mean. There’s not a snowflake in sight!” He smiled, putting his hat back on his head.

Kevin frowned. Now that he thought about it, Chuno had spoken – rather, sang – in human before. Still, his whole demeanour seemed different.

Chikoro walked up to him. “Are you, like, Chuno’s evil twin? Or, like, his good twin, I guess?”

Chuno laughed, patting Chikoro on the head. “Oh, no, no. This is merely my work wear! You see, I have to give Shady one thing. He has the right idea talking human to the humans. As such, wearing their clothing and speaking their language catches their eye as well! Therefore, I am not merely Chuno, but Chuno the Naturalist!” He struck a pose, like he was some sort of superhero or something.

“So you’re dressed like a mobster…?” asked Kevin, still reeling from shock.

“My wife thinks it’s cute,” said Chuno. Kevin decided not to respond.

Kari took the opportunity to growl. “So you’re in your work uniform or whatever. Fine. Why are you even in this tournament?” Oh, right. That.

Chuno smiled, placing his paws in his pockets. “For giggles.”

Kari said nothing, though a vein was visible on her forehead. Chuno cracked a grin again.

“All right, all right. One, I need some good publicity. You’re the hot topic of the moment, my boy, so I’ll get that by association. Two, I want to see how strong you are. If you can beat my men and I in a battle, I’m sure Shady won’t stand a chance. And three… for giggles!” He clapped. “That’s that.”

“I think you have enough giggles,” seethed Kari, but Kevin cut her off.

“Um, but aren’t you famous? You have publicity, don’t you?” Kevin asked.

Chuno rolled his eyes. “I said _good_ publicity, boy. You need to clean your ears.”

Kevin opened his mouth to say something else, but Chikoro stepped in. “Did you say you and your men?”

“Indeed I did! You can obviously hear perfectly well, even if I can’t see your ears!” said Chuno. “You didn’t think I’d be so stupid as to enter the Pokémon League without any backup, did you? Jacques, my assistant, has kindly offered to battle by my side, along with a friend of his. Exciting, no?”

“E-exciting?! But, wait, I don’t get it, you have men?” Chikoro asked. Judging by his tone of voice, Kevin guessed that he was too curious to be mad.

Chuno nodded rhythmically, his ears bobbing awkwardly by his hat. “Please. Shady has the Shades, and I have my people as well. Though I suppose ‘my men’ may be a misnomer…” He gazed at the ceiling. “Well, whatever. I’m looking forward to our match tomorrow, my boy! See you!” And with a swift pivot of the heel, Chuno strode out, his coat flying in a stylish manner behind him.

Kari grunted once he left. “I can’t believe he’s managed to round up supporters. You’d have to be mad to want to completely destroy the human race. I mean, they’re not _that_ terrible.”

“I thought we agreed Chuno was insane already,” said Kevin, sighing. “Great. Unless he somehow has a trainer’s licence, how are we supposed to know who his other two ‘men’ are, anyway? _He_ won’t show up on the computer.”

The Chikorita tapped his foot, deep in thought. “Um… We could wing it, right? They never used computers for the league in the old days, anyway.”

Kevin frowned. “Mm, in Kanto, maybe, but I’m sure they did in Hoenn.” He spat out a small fireball. “Fine. I guess sometimes, being blind is more fun.” Kevin blinked before quickly adding, “Metaphorically, I mean.”

The large tortoise glared at him. “If you say so, dear.”

Chikoro stared at them both in confusion, but neither Kevin nor Kari bothered to clarify.

*

December thirty-first. Along with being New Year’s Eve, it was the first day of the preliminaries. It was slightly nerve-wracking to walk around the temporary villages set up for the league and see trainers everywhere making last minute preparations. Kevin would have done so, too, if he had known what he was up against.

Oddly, it seemed as if several shops had sprung up around the tiny town, all of them selling either concessions or strange merchandise for some of the more famous participants. Kevin had seen booths akin to them back at the Hearthome contest, but he figured it was all part of the flashy nature of contests in general. Nonetheless, seeing crudely painted, generic Monferno key chains that claimed to be proportionately accurate recreations of “Slick” was weird.

“Who would buy that?” He found himself asking upon seeing an assortment of buttons with what appeared to be his horrible league picture on them.

“Fangirls love those, actually. I see buttons like them on bags all the time, haven’t you?” Kari said, smirking.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “Uh, no. Why aren’t there any of the Shade, or Chuno?”

Kari laughed. “You think people want to buy stuff with Chuno on it? Look, he was kind of right, in one way. You’re the newest and most popular Pokémon right now. People are flocking to you and your unlicensed merchandise because nobody knows anything about you. It’s kind of like how it was back in ’03…” She frowned. “Except a reporter hasn’t found you yet.”

“Kind of weird one hasn’t,” he remarked, glancing around. “Where’d Chikoro go? I thought he was following us.”

“Hm? I don’t know, I wasn’t looking,” said Kari.

“Over here!” the Chikorita shouted, revealing himself from behind a booth. He had half a dozen human girls with him, all of which were around Lana’s age. He ran up to Kevin. “Hey! These girls want your autograph!”

Kevin blinked. “What? Why?”

Chikoro flipped his leaf and sighed. “ _Right_. Maybe ‘cause you’re the Shade’s nephew? Seriously, Slickky, get with the times.” He then made a face that looked like a mixture of being incredulous and not amused.

One of the girls grinned. “This sweet little Chikorita told us you’d give us your autograph, if you don’t mind.” Chikoro’s face turned into a disgusted one.

“Um… _Sure_. Just a second,” Kevin said, turning around and dragging Kari with him. Once he felt he was safely out of earshot, he harshly whispered, “He knows I can’t read! Why the hell did he go and tell them I’d give them autographs?!”

Kari rolled her eyes. “It must have slipped his mind. It’s not like you elaborated on it. So what are you going to do?”

“What? I was going to ask you that!”

“You really think I can help you with this? It’s not like I can write, either!” she said, stomping her foot to prove her point. “Look. All you have to write is ‘Slick’. Think you can manage five letters?”

“Um, maybe?” Kevin answered, frowning. “Can’t you help me at all?”

Kari bit her lip, and then grunted. “Okay, I’ll try,” she said. Lifting her foot, she gingerly attempted to trace something into the dirt on the ground. When she finished, all it looked like was a mess of scribbles. Kari glared at him. “That’s ‘Slick’, on the ground. Copy that, and you should be good.”

Kevin squinted at the ground for a few seconds before responding, “Okay. So it’s like a squiggle, a straight line, another line with a circle, a half circle, and… that last letter. Um, that’s K, right?”

“Just sign their stuff,” Kari muttered, sinking lower to the ground. Kevin nodded and went back to Chikoro and the girls.

After signing various items, including notebooks and oddly, a hat, Kevin bid the girls farewell as they walked away, somewhat satisfied. Kevin noted grimly that his signature was nowhere near the neatness and clarity of Kari’s rendition, and the looks on some of the girls’ faces confirmed he was a horrible writer. He sighed.

“Um, no offense, but why did it take you five whole minutes to do that? Writing your name’s usually not that hard, just saying,” said Chikoro inquiringly.

“Because I can’t read, I can’t write, either,” said Kevin through his teeth. “So don’t give out any more promises, ‘kay?”

“Whoa. _Sorry_ , Slick. I just figured you’d have the most basic abilities ever,” Chikoro said, glaring. “How the heck did you _not_ learn how, anyway? Did you really live that deep in the woods?”

“Yeah, kind of! When you’re a family of four rare Pokémon in a region humans don’t know you live in, you kind of have to hide yourselves a little more than if you were Zigzagoon or whatever. We never went around humans.” Why Chikoro had decided to be an arrogant brat, he didn’t know, but Kevin was beginning to get really irritated.

“BS.” Chikoro scoffed.

Kevin clenched his fists. “Excuse me?” he enunciated each syllable, feeling the fire crawl into his words.

“You speak human like you’ve done it your whole life. I lived in a lab for all of mine, so I know for a fact that you must’ve grown up with some sort of human influence, ‘cause otherwise, you’d sound like Kari or something!” Chikoro growled, standing up as tall as he could.

“Like you know anything about me or Kari,” Kevin shot back, narrowing his eyes. “Kari’s been speaking human longer than you, and so have I, so your little analysis is dead wrong. You want to know why I can speak it so well? It’s my first language. There.”

Chikoro shook his head. “No way! I don’t believe you,” he said, although he was starting to look a little less confident.

“Want proof? Fine,” Kevin spat, taking a long breath. _“Well, here you go. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, twinkle twinkle little star, I have a freakin’ accent and you know it, okay?”_

Chikoro backed away before turning; the leaf on his head hiding his face. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said quietly, and Kevin got the impression that he was somehow staring right at him through his leaf. “ _You_ don’t make any sense.”

Kevin blinked in confusion, lowering his temperature. Behind him, he heard Kari slowly wander up to the two of them, sensing the thinning tension. “What are you talking about?” Kevin asked carefully.

Chikoro peeked out from behind his leaf. “There’s just… this feeling I get. It’s like, whenever I look at you I get all apprehensive or something.” The young starter frowned. “Um… Have you ever been hit by Scary Face?”

“A couple of times, I guess,” Kevin answered. He didn’t like where this was going.

“It’s like that feeling, but not scary, just… like I should stay away. And I’ve only had _that_ feeling once before,” said Chikoro, now facing Kevin directly.

Kevin eyed the ground. “And when would that be?”

The Chikorita glanced at the sky. “When that professor came in to give us all the human speaking pills,” he said. Suddenly, he jerked his head down, to face Kevin. “Slickky, you’re not Professor Holly somehow, are you?”

Kevin managed to choke on air, sending himself into a coughing fit. After a moment or two of clearing his throat, he shook his head furiously. “N-no, I’m not. Um…” Kevin honestly had no idea if he could trust Chikoro, especially with something as important as—

“Professor Holly is his father,” said Kari bluntly. Kevin choked again.

Chikoro’s eyes widened. “Ehh…? But—”

“Kari!” Kevin managed to blurt out. “What the hell?! Why are you—”

“And before you ask,” she continued, “‘Slick’ is not a human. He’s only one quarter human, even if he acts like he’s more than that. He was caught by someone in a defective Pokéball that stopped him from aging for ten years, and now he’s here to win the league so he can go have a reunion with the Shade. And no, _I_ am not in any way special, aside from the fact that I learned to speak human without that pill. Did you get all that?”

Chikoro stared, wide eyed, completely dumbstruck. He nodded so slightly that Kevin barely noticed his head move. Kari grunted. “Good. Now that we’ve gotten that cleared up, we’d better head over to the stadium to start our match. Come on.”

Kari led the two boys with her head held high, as if she had done nothing more than explain why the sky was blue or something. Kevin glanced at Chikoro, who still looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“Hey, um, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell anyone else,” he said.

Chikoro shook his head. “Like anyone would believe me. _I_ don’t believe it.”

Kevin shrugged. Well, if that was the answer he was getting, it wasn’t that bad of one. It was better than nothing, at the very least, but he’d rather have something more concrete. He just wished he could dispel the heavy feeling that descended upon him as the three of them walked towards the stadium.

*

As the referee introduced both him and his opponent, Kevin felt nothing.

He didn’t know why. An hour or two ago, it would have been exhilarating to hear his name – his pseudonym, rather – be announced to fans in the stadium as one of the competitors. But right now…

All he could feel was sick to his stomach, desperately wondering about what Chikoro would do. The kid had assured him he wouldn’t tell anyone, but Kevin couldn’t shake the feeling that somebody else would find out. He really hoped that somebody wouldn’t be Chuno.

Kari nudged him from behind. “Hey, they called you. Aren’t you supposed to go out there now?”

Kevin nodded, using the motion to try and clear his head. It worked with little success, because now the pain had turned into the sour taste he hated so much. He shrugged it off and walked out into the arena.

The crowd was filled with more murmurs than cheers. Kevin narrowed his eyes. Of course they’d be that way; he was battling Chuno! The Naturalist versus Slick, battle of the century and whatnot. It was a big deal.

He looked behind him. Kari was there, along with Styler, who he’d decided would be a good choice as a third member. Good thing, too – he shuddered to think what Chikoro would say if he were sent out.

On the other end of the field was Chuno, still in his fancy clothes. He was enjoying himself, to Kevin’s dismay, and flashing grins to the crowd. He saw Kevin looking at him and waved, as if nothing were more natural. Kevin clenched his fists.

“This match will be three on three! Begin!” Kevin heard the referee say. Chuno gleefully took off his hat.

“Right then, first up will be me,” he announced, throwing his coat to the side of the stadium. “Hey, reffy, I’ve got a question,” he said.

The referee looked at the Raichu in confusion. “Uh, yes?”

“If I faint, may I be revived to command the rest of my team? The same goes for Slickky over there, of course,” Chuno said melodically. Kevin frowned.

“Er— Yes. Due to special circumstances, if the, er, _leader_ of each team is to faint before the match is decided, he may be revived to continue with the other Pokémon. However, he may not battle himself once he has fainted.” Fair enough, Kevin thought, and he nodded in agreement.

“Let’s start then,” Kevin said, trying to keep cool. “Kari, Earthquake his ass.”

Kari chuckled. “It’s about time I got to do that,” she said. She made her way onto the battlefield and grinned before driving her foot through the ground and causing the shockwaves to form. Kevin avoided it by jumping onto Styler’s back.

Chuno didn’t even try to dodge, instead comically keeling over onto the ground, already fainted. One of the league staff brought over a revive, and within the minute he was back up again, rubbing his head.

“Oh my, it looks like I have some tough competition,” the Raichu mused. Then, out of nowhere, his expression turned dangerous as he snapped his fingers. “Jacques, get out here.”

Kari actually stepped back. Kevin studied his opponent’s face with curiosity. That was odd. How could his expression suddenly be so dark? It was almost as if his eyes were daggers, and it was pretty freaky. Kevin directed his attention to behind Chuno instead, where a Machoke was emerging from the shadows.

 _“The turtle they called Kari… The real one behind it all… Crush her skull,”_ Chuno rasped, slipping into Pokémon. The Machoke did not hesitate to run into the battlefield. “Dynamic Punch!”

Kevin blinked in confusion. The real one behind it all…? What exactly was he going on about? Kevin gritted his teeth. “Use the awesome Razor Leaf! And tuck in your head,” he added as an afterthought. He doubted she hadn’t heard the skull-crushing bit.

She obeyed him without question, combining the defensive manoeuvre with the attack that had taken down Byron’s Bastiodon with ease. Kevin narrowed his eyes as the Machoke ran through the barrage of leaves unfazed and slammed his fist onto Kari’s shell.

 _“Do whatever you have to, but kill her,”_ Chuno insisted once more. Kevin told Kari to Earthquake and then glared at The Naturalist.

 _“Just what the hell are you trying to pull?”_ Kevin snarled, keeping the conversation at least semi-private from the crowd. No doubt somebody was translating, though.

Chuno smiled, this time with malice instead of the friendliness he’d shown before. _“You thought I didn’t know? I did my research, Kevin, and Shady’s little girlfriend is the one who started it. She’s the one who thought, ‘Hey, let’s make a crude excuse for a rights movement and all be friends with the humans!’ It’s her fault!”_ he said, sparks flying from his cheeks. _“It’s her fault this damn philosophy – that humans could ever be our equals – is now widespread! Do you think I’m seriously going to stand here and let this chance get away?”_

Kevin stared. _“What— What the hell is your problem, anyway? If you have so much of a damn superiority complex, why are you taking it out on her?”_ He had to admit Chuno’s intensity was scaring him. Kevin also chose to ignore the fact that somehow, Chuno knew his real name…

 _“HUMANS DON’T BELONG HERE!”_ Chuno screamed, visibly trembling. _“THEY AREN’T LIKE US! THEY’RE SELFISH, SADISTIC SCUM WHO ONLY EXIST TO MAKE OUR LIVES HELL, AND SHE THINKS WE’RE ON PAR WITH THEM?”_ He pointed an accusatory paw at the Torterra still fighting, though she was beginning to wear down. _“She’s just as horrible as a human!”_ Chuno finished, his anguish fading away to be replaced by a cool, calculated stare.

_“Not all humans are like that—”_

_“So you’re claiming your psychotic furry grandfather was good, are you? Like hell he was. You really are demons. Every single one of you.”_ Chuno bared his fangs.

That was it. He snapped.

“Switch out,” he growled, not bothering to wait for Kari to get out of the way. He marched across the field, burning the ground as he walked. Not that it registered. He got to the other side and threw a punch to Chuno’s jaw.

Chuno reeled backwards from the force and giggled. _“Is that all?”_

Kevin snarled and threw several more consecutive punches, all aimed at Chuno’s head. The Raichu failed to stop laughing.

 _“Hit me all you want, boy, I can’t feel it. Pain doesn’t exist.”_ The Raichu laughed even harder after looking at Kevin’s face. _“What, are you angry?”_

Kevin didn’t respond, breathing heavily. He heard the referee blow a whistle, signalling a time out, or something. He didn’t care.

 _“Do you know what my name means?”_ Chuno asked, his voice soft again, as if it were a normal conversation. _“ Angel. Angels always beat demons.”_ The Raichu grinned.

Before he could say anything more, Kevin was sucked into a black abyss.


	32. Chapter 32

“Disqualified,” Kevin repeated for what felt like the millionth time, the word’s meaning completely lost.

“We heard you,” said Kari, her voice sounding weirder than usual. She seemed to be getting a cold.

Kevin stared out at the ocean. “The hell. _He was trying to kill you_ ,” he said, not that Kari wasn’t already aware of the fact. He kicked a pebble as hard as he could and watched it soar into the deep waters.

“And you were beating the crap out of him when he’d already fainted. That’s not allowed,” Kari mumbled. She sank down to the ground, too tired to stand.

Kevin kept staring. “He planned that. He knew I’d pick you to beat him, and that I’d freak and attack him later. Especially after egging me on like that. He played me for a goddamn sap.” He glared. “I thought he wanted to use me to get to the Shade.”

Kari shook her head. “If his rant was any indication, he wants to see us all die personally,” she muttered, sniffing. “I just wonder…”

“What?” asked Kevin, finally turning his glance to the turtle beside him.

She shook her head. “His vendetta. I can’t imagine what caused him to hate humans that much. But whatever it is… Kevin, I think we need to be careful. He must’ve heard us talking to Chikoro; he knew too much not to.”

Nodding solemnly, Kevin agreed. “Yeah.”

They stayed there for a moment, silent. Somehow, it relaxed him, almost like he didn’t want the moment to end…

But then, a thought struck him, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Kari?”

“Yes?” she answered quietly. Kevin felt something twinge inside him, but he didn’t know what.

“Um… Did you really, uh, come up with the Shades?” he asked.

More silence, though it was of the uncomfortable kind. Kari eyed the ground. “I suppose so.”

Kevin looked at her, and she continued. “I mean… We both realized… He was the only one who could do something. I-I just…” A few tears escaped, landing silently on the ground. “I told him he could do it. I took the fleeting idea and went with it, and convinced him it was possible. I was… We were…”

“Two kids with a crazy ambition that somehow managed to work,” Kevin finished. He gazed at the sky, noting somewhere in the back of his head that the Gardevoir constellation could be seen quite clearly. Wow.

“Ye-yes,” said Kari. “But, I haven’t told you any of this before—”

“No need. My mom told me an awfully similar story,” Kevin muttered, revisiting the locked away memories of his early childhood. “My dad and Uncle Nick… You and the Shade… What, does that make me Aunt Lily, then?”

“I don’t—”

Kevin sighed in frustration. “I know you don’t. You don’t need to understand, okay?” Kevin felt the twinge again. “I just… I think I…”

He could barely believe himself. Everything he was thinking was a blur. “I wish I was the one who got stuck in the lab with you instead.” There, he said it. He expected it to make him feel better, but it only made him feel worse. Kevin sighed angrily and slumped down.

“Kevin,” Kari said. He didn’t want to look at her. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”

Kevin widened his eyes in surprise and turned to her reflexively. “What?”

“What kind of idiot do you have to be to wish for something as miserable as that? Horrible scars and lifelong respiratory problems aside, you can barely stand me for half an hour, let alone three years!” she growled.

He blinked. Then, without really realizing it, he started to laugh. It only took a moment for her to join him, in spite of her anger. When the laughter subsided, Kevin smiled.

“Our lives suck,” he said.

“You only just noticed?”

Kevin grinned. Just one, happy moment seemed to dissolve all the sourness; make it seem like everything was okay. And it was moments like these, he noted, that he truly didn’t want to end.

If only things would stay this way forever.

*

“So, what’s happening now?” Chikoro asked the next morning, New Year’s Day. He, Kevin, and Kari were currently wandering around the Pokémon League with nothing to do. Kevin shrugged.

“I don’t know. There’s got to be some other way to get to the Battle Frontier. I mean…” He glanced at Kari, whose face showed telltale signs of having some sort of flu. “The Shade didn’t beat the league, either.”

Chikoro shook his head. “I’m talking about that evil rat who tried to bash in Kari’s head,” he said adamantly, flipping his leaf. “What are you going to do about him?”

“Oh,” Kevin muttered. “I don’t know.”

Chikoro scoffed. “He called your grandpa a ‘psychotic furry’. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

“It does,” Kevin growled, “but what am I going to do? Hunt him down, try and beat him up again? He was telling the truth when he said he didn’t feel a damn thing.” Kevin noted bitterly that that was how Chuno was able to fall from the Earthquake so dramatically – he couldn’t feel anything from it.

Kari looked up, her eyes dull. “You could try beating him emotionally. He seemed to be close to snapping in the match,” she offered.

“Close to?” Kevin said incredulously. “He was _totally_ nuts. Anyway, it’s not like I can _talk him to death_ or anything.” He looked around the league’s lobby.

“It was just a suggestion,” said Kari groggily. “I feel like hell,” she said before slumping to the ground again.

“You look like hell,” Chikoro agreed.

“Shut up,” Kevin told Chikoro. “Do you want to go to the Pokémon Center or something, Kari?”

Kari nodded weakly. The three of them then headed to the section of the league containing the Pokémon Center, with Chikoro going over the failed first round along the way.

“No Guard Machoke,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Sure, he’s not as much of a troll as his evolution, but he can still do some serious damage if you’re not prepared,” Chikoro looked up to Kevin. “Hey, what if the battle continued, and he knocked out Kari? What would you do?”

“I’d send in Styler,” Kevin said, not really paying attention. Kari was moving at an exceptionally slow pace, even for her.

Chikoro nodded, then said, “Okay, but No Guarders usually pack Stone Edge, don’t they? Wouldn’t that be a bit risky?”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Machoke’s too slow. Styler would be able to get in a Brave Bird before he could blink.”

“But, what if he had a focus sash?”

“What? Uh… Aren’t sashes for leads? Anyway, I doubt Chuno was so crazy prepared that he actually thought of a strategy you wouldn’t find anywhere and everywhere.” Kevin felt he knew what question was coming next.

“Well, what if you had to fight, instead?” Bingo. Kevin thought for a moment before replying.

“I’d be dead,” he said.

Chikoro looked surprised. “Huh?”

Kevin glanced at Kari. “My sucky defense wouldn’t stand a chance. Add that to Machoke’s decent bulk, and unless I was seriously overpowered, I wouldn’t be able to take him down before getting hit with Dynamic Punch, let alone Stone Edge.”

Chikoro pondered this. “So, you’re a sweeper who can’t sweep, is that what you’re saying?”

“ _No_ , I just can’t take a hit. So long as I can dodge, I’m fine.” Chikoro’s presumptuous nature was getting really annoying really fast. Kevin looked at Kari again to check her condition. She really did look sick. He frowned. “You okay?”

“Kevin, I am probably the farthest I’ve ever been from okay in my life, aside from the time I got glass in my eye,” Kari mumbled, and though she was trying to be snarky, it came out as more of a tedious exhaustion. Kevin grimaced.

“Come on, the Center’s just around the corner here, okay?” And sure enough, the trio rounded the corner and the Pokémon Center was in sight. Kari gave a strangled breath of relief and made her way over slightly quicker.

Upon finally getting to the counter, Kevin took the liberty of telling the nurse Kari was sick. Nurse Joy, who seemed to be a little wearier of him than she was when Kevin registered, called over a Chansey and led Kari into another room for a checkup. Kevin sighed.

He tried to think of something to make waiting less of a pain, but for some reason Kevin’s mind kept wandering off into cynical thoughts about Kari getting a terminal disease. Chikoro was still prattling on about battling (and his terms, which had been fairly standard before, had gotten more out-there – Resto-Chesto? The hell?), something that Kevin would usually find interesting, but he just wasn’t in the mood. When one of the Chansey assistants emerged and walked over, he sat up, anxious.

“Your friend is going to be fine,” said the Chansey sweetly. “Right now, she just has a moderately severe case of Pokérus.”

“Eh? Hey, no fair! Why can’t I get Pokérus?” said Chikoro indignantly. Kevin raised an eyebrow.

“You _want_ to get sick?” he asked.

Chikoro shook his head. “No, Professor Elm said it was good for you! I mean, aside from making you sick, training’s supposed to be faster. I heard some rich guy even paid money for his Pokémon to get infected!”

Kevin was still incredulous. In his opinion, nothing was better than pure, ruthless grinding, ever. He shrugged, then turned to Chansey. “Hey, uh, how long will she be sick?”

“Have you heard of the humans’ Chicken Pox?” asked Chansey. Kevin nodded. “It’s like that. She’ll be sick and contagious for a while until the symptoms wear off. After that, she’ll be okay and she’ll never get it again.”

Chikoro scoffed. “Which means if I want it, I’d better get it, quick!”

Kevin glared. “So you’re just going to go up to her and tackle her or whatever until you manage to get sick? Uh, no.” Kevin got up. “I’m going to go see her.”

Chansey led Kevin to Kari’s room while Chikoro pouted and stayed behind. Along the way, Kevin wondered about the validity of Chikoro’s claims – if Pokérus was supposed to make someone train better, what was the point if you were too sick to move, anyway? It seemed pretty counter-productive.

Chansey opened the door for Kevin, then wandered back down the hall, presumably to check on another patient. Kevin smiled weakly at the Torterra. “Hi.”

Kari blinked. “Hi yourself,” she said.

“So, uh, they said you had a _good_ disease?”

“Pfft. No I don’t. I threw up. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.” She groaned and turned her head to the window, which showed a view of an overcast day with a few light flurries. “Want to know the best part? Apparently, I have to stay out for it to be cured. It doesn’t go away if you’re shoved in a box where you can’t feel anything.”

Kevin smirked. “No kidding?”

“Really. I almost laughed when they told me that. Anyway… Sorry for the inconvenience.”

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. It’s not like I have any plans right now, anyway, aside from figuring out how I can get across the ocean relatively soon.”

“Right. Well, until you figure that out, I think I’ll stay here and do nothing, if that’s okay with you.” She paused before adding, “I still think it’s funny that if this had happened a few months ago, you wouldn’t have given a damn at all and you’d be on your merry way.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve been useful to have around,” he replied, winking at her. Kevin waved and walked out the door, closing it on his way. When he re-entered the waiting room, Chikoro came bounding up to him, excited.

“You’ll never believe this!” Chikoro said. “Look!”

A piece of paper was shoved into Kevin’s face. Kevin sighed and yanked it from the Chikorita’s vine. “What is it?”

“That,” announced Chikoro, “is a certification thingy that says you’re allowed to take the ferry to the Battle Frontier!”

Kevin stared at the paper, the incomprehensible symbols staring back at him. ‘What? Where’d you get this?”

Chikoro grinned triumphantly. “Professor Rowan saw me, and he was all like, ‘Give this to Slick’, and I read it, and it says you can go! Seriously, why does Kari hate this guy?”

“…Why is he giving me all these free handouts?” Kevin asked, turning the page upside down as if that would help him understand it. (It didn’t.) He glanced back in the direction he’d come from. “I was just saying I needed to find a way to the Frontier…”

“Dude must be psychic, then,” said Chikoro, his grin turning devilish. “Ooh, I know, wish for me to get Pokérus! Maybe Rowan can do that, too!”

Kevin laughed. “Yeah, no. Come on, let’s go tell Lana and the rest of the team.”

*

Kari wasn’t budging. At all.

After puking _again_ , the nurses ran some more tests and decided her case was too serious to leave alone. Thus, they told her to sit outside all day (in the _winter_ ) and recover “naturally”.

Kevin was ticked off, but one look at Kari told him she really couldn’t go anywhere. He would have waited for her to get better, but seeing as Nurse Joy couldn’t say an exact time for when Kari would be cured and her guess was in two weeks, he didn’t think he could wait that long. It didn’t help that the Shade had told him to hurry over way back in November.

So, it was go now and meet the Shade alone, without Kari, or wait forever and risk the Shade getting impatient. Fantastic.

“You really should go,” Kari had said. “I’d rather reconcile with him on my own, all things considered.”

She had choked on her last words, and upon being asked about it, she’d replied, “Oh, nothing. It’s just that I told _him_ to go and leave me behind, too.”

Of course, that made Kevin feel guilty, but after that she had insisted that he go to the Battle Frontier without her, not taking no for an answer. Eventually, Kevin gave in, and he boarded the ferry to the Battle Frontier, leaving Lana and the rest of the team behind to look after Kari.

…Except for Chikoro, who had given up his dream of catching Pokérus when he decided that “An epic clash between two super-famous Pokémon” was more worth it. Apparently, once grass types wanted something, nothing could change their minds.

So there Kevin was, on a three hour boat ride to a tropical island somehow north of the coldest city in the world. Huh.

“This is it,” he muttered to himself once the boat had left port. He could hardly believe what was happening.

“Yup,” said Chikoro, gazing out the window in glee. “Best New Year’s ever, am I right?”

Kevin laughed a little. “Guess so,” he said.

In truth, his stomach was churning with nerves, and the sensation in his throat was getting uncomfortably close to sourness. He doubted he was ready; he had hardly prepared and he still didn’t know anything about the island they were headed.

But, hey.

This was it.


	33. Chapter 33

“Wh-whoa… This is so cool!”

Kevin resisted the urge to laugh at Chikoro. The kid’s regular voice was high-pitched enough, but in fanboy mode he barely sounded over the age of five. The Chikorita currently had his face pressed against the glass of the boat’s window, shielding the view from Kevin.

“I mean, I’ve heard about the Battle Frontiers everywhere, but I’ve never actually seen one before, and it all looks so _awesome_ and—”

“I know! You’ve been saying that the whole way here!” Even though it was funny, Chikoro’s repetitiveness was taking its toll. “I’m excited too! But what I’m here for is the Shade, not the Battle Tower, or Pyramid, or whatever.”

Chikoro turned around, unimpressed. “There’s no Battle Pyramid in Sinnoh! And you call yourself an expert at battling,” he muttered.

Kevin shrugged and dragged Chikoro out of the little cabin and into the main hall. “Like I said, whatever. Let’s just get off the boat already.”

In reality it was still another five minutes before they would reach the docks, but Kevin wanted to be the first one off. The two marched up onto the deck, where they did nothing but tap their feet impatiently until they hit land.

Once a sailor opened the gate to let everyone off, Kevin speed walked to a nearby tree with Chikoro close behind. He clenched his fists.

“Okay. We’re here,” he said. He looked at Chikoro. “Um, where do you think the Shade is?”

Chikoro shrugged. “I don’t know where he lives, don’t you?”

“Uh…” Kevin glanced around, looking for something that would give him a clue. Oddly, he saw a volcano in the distance, overlooking the entire island. “That volcano, maybe…”

“A volcano? Well, I guess you guys are fire type. Still, that looks like a long walk. We’d better get moving.” Chikoro said. Kevin nodded.

The two walked, Kevin lost in thought. He didn’t expect to see a volcano all the way out here. Then again, his mother had mentioned the Northern clan in passing a lot when he was a kid, and that Iffy guy had said he was from “Stark Mountain”. It seemed the most likely place for Kevin’s uncle to be.

If only he’d had the sense to look more stuff up on the internet. But after the whole Pokéball mess, Kevin didn’t really like computers all that much. He was glad he didn’t have to use them much for the league, at any rate.

Suddenly, he bumped into Chikoro. “What the— Chicky,” Kevin said, frowning.

“If you have to shorten it, use Koro,” the Chikorita replied.

“I don’t care. Why’d you stop, anyway?” Kevin asked, glaring.

Chikoro held up a pair of sunglasses, grinning. “Check it! Someone left these rockin’ sunglasses sticking up in the ground here.” He put them on. “Oh yeah. So cash.”

Kevin blinked. “You sound ridiculous,” he said flatly. “Whatever, finders keepers, go you. Let’s just keep going, okay?” Why had he agreed to let Chikoro follow him, again? So he could be used as cannon fodder against the Shade?

The pair of them continued on. Aside from lots of trainers, well, training, there wasn’t much to the non-battle part of the Battle Frontier. Sure, there were palm trees and fruit, which were a delicious break from the norm, but otherwise, the area was pretty uncivilized and one could see plenty of wild Pokémon running amok, particularly children.

“I wish I grew up here,” Kevin remarked as a Rattata dashed past him, playing tag with a Mankey. After a second, he revised his statement. “Wait, scratch that. I wish I were a _normal_ kid who grew up here.”

“Mm,” agreed Chikoro. “It’s like they don’t have a care in the world…”

Kevin wandered over to an apple tree. In it, a Spearow pecked at one of the fruits, but he didn’t seem to mind as Kevin climbed up to get one for himself. Kevin picked one and smiled.

“Where’s your sweater today, Mr. Shade?” asked the Spearow.

Kevin looked up, surprised. “What? Oh, um, I’m not him,” he said.

“Really?” said the Spearow, his head quickly twitching in the manner bird’s heads usually did. “Then why are you in Mr. Shade’s special apple tree?”

Kevin smiled nervously. Special apple tree? What, was the Shade supreme dictator or something? “Um… I’m hungry. Can’t I get an apple, too?”

The Spearow considered this. “I think you should ask him.”

“Great. I’ll do that the next time I see him,” Kevin muttered.

“Uh, Slickky?” asked Chikoro. “Maybe you should get out of there, you know, just in case?”

Kevin sighed and dropped out of the tree, apple in hand. “It’s no big deal. How was I supposed to know that Shady would have a random apple tree marked as his own?”

“Apples are his favourite,” chimed the little Spearow.

“Yes, they really are delicious.”

Kevin froze. He recognized that voice from the radio. The Shade was right behind him and Chikoro.

“You can go now, Farow. I can handle this myself,” the Shade said.

The Spearow looked happily behind Kevin. “Come back tomorrow, Mr. Shade!”

“I will,” he assured. He waited until the child had flown off, and then cleared his throat. “Are you going to turn around?”

Kevin narrowed his eyes. Taking his sweet time to casually change direction, he stopped midway.

No.

That didn’t… _No_.

“So,” said the Shade, his expression quickly turning bitter. “First you disappear. I decide to go look for you – because you were the only goddamn friend I had, even if you sucked at that – and I wind up getting captured and pretty much thrown in prison. I spend three frickin’ years on dollar store kibble and finally manage to break out, except now I’m horribly scarred and have to hide it with something even more conspicuous. Oh, not to mention I had to leave my best friend behind!”

Kevin blinked. _Hell no_!

“And then, I decide to hide out in Canalave City, so Rowan can’t find me. A nice lady takes me in, but then what happens? Wham! She dies! So I salvage what little hope I have left and decide to go through with a stupid idea, find some other human-speaking Pokémon and form the Shades. All seems good, right?”

How could he be such an idiot?

“No! The media decides I’m either a public monstrosity or a hoax, and they spend six months trying to catch me and put me in another lab! Finally they quit it when _someone_ – I’m sure you’ve heard who by now – makes some pill that lets all the poor Pokémon speak human, but then, I’m not special anymore, I’m just that crazy Shade guy who may or may not be a criminal!

“And if that wasn’t enough,” the Shade spat, “when I decided to let some more people join the Shades, one of them’s a complete psycho who wants me and Kari dead, all while smiling and singing his frickin’ poetry crap! I don’t even _know_ how I got out of that one!”

He was panting now, his body trembling, ironically similar to how Chuno’s had. “And then you show up again, with a new name challenging gyms, and you say you hate me and everything I stand for. What. The. Hell.” He growled. “That’s my story. So, what have _you_ been doing for the past ten years, Kevin?”

Kevin wanted to answer. He wanted to explain everything, to make everything okay. But as he tried to open his mouth, no sound came out. His voice had disappeared… Just like he had, back then.

“I’m not being rhetorical or anything, you know!” the Shade said, taking a few steps closer. “I want an answer, Kev!” He tried breathing, to calm himself, presumably, but it didn’t have much of an effect.

“I…” Kevin managed to say. He didn’t have time to say anything else before the Shade punched him in the face.

Growling, the Shade shook his head. “S-stupid! Why are you always so stupid?” He stared at Kevin for a second before adding, “And why are you shorter than me? And who the hell is this kid? Huh, _Slick_?”

Kevin gritted his teeth. “Shut up! How am I supposed to tell you anything if you keep freaking out?” he yelled.

The Shade folded his arms, biting his lip. “All right, _fine_! Explain!”

Kevin let out a breath. He studied the person in front of him carefully, looking for anything that would prove the Shade wasn’t who he appeared to be. After finding nothing, Kevin conceded. “Okay. First off… Kyle, is that really you?”

The Shade spat out a flame. “What, is there someone to confuse me with? Obviously it’s me, Kev.” It _was_ obvious. Even with the deep voice and evolution, Kyle’s face was still remarkably similar to the way it had been. Not to mention the fact that he was still somehow incredibly underweight.

Kevin tried to shove his nagging conscience out of his mind, as it was currently reprimanding him for being such a damn idiot. He sighed again. “Okay… Um, listen. None of this was my fault—”

“Don’t you _dare_ try and play that card!” Kyle snapped, pointing an accusatory finger. “If you hadn’t decided to actually take me seriously and go halfway across the world, none of this would have even happened!” The Shade glared at his feet. “Ever since we were kids, you’ve always been doing stupid stuff and blaming everyone else for it. Can’t you be responsible for once?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” shouted Kevin, clenching his fists. “You think I wanted this? Hell, you don’t even know what happened, so quit _pointing fingers_ until you do!”

“I thought you’d died!” yelled Kyle. “Do you know what that feels like; to think your big brother – no matter how stupid he is – is dead? And now you’re just waltzing in like it’s no big deal! So what _is_ your excuse, anyway? The hell could be so important that you’d disappear for an entire decade?”

“Someone caught me,” Kevin growled.

“Oh, and what a _lovely_ experience that must’ve been for you! Surely my three years in a lab weren’t _nearly_ as awful as going around the country doing the exact same thing you intended to do when you left!”

Kevin felt flames tickling at his throat and spat out some fire. “Ten years ago,” he added.

“Your point?” asked Kyle, clearly furious.

“Goddamn it! Have you even looked at me?” Kevin shot back.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “So you’re short. What else?”

“I’m still fourteen, dumbass! Doesn’t that confuse you at all?” Kevin snarled.

“What—” Kyle blinked. “What?”

Kevin laughed, throwing his arms up in the air. “I got caught and stuffed in a box. I’m finally released after forever, and it turns out everything else has aged ten years but me! Funny, isn’t it?”

“ _What_?” asked Kyle incredulously. “What the— Who in their right mind would buy a story like that? Is that really the best excuse you have?”

“I’m telling the truth!” insisted Kevin.

“Yeah, well,” Kyle spat, “you’ve cried wolf one too many times in my book, so I don’t care.” He narrowed his eyes. “Those are mine, by the way. Of course, Kevin here was too much of a complete moron to notice.”

With a swift motion, Kyle swiped his sunglasses off of Chikoro’s head and placed them in his sweater pocket. His deep eyes then turned to glare at Kevin. “Maybe Chump really was a good nickname for you, you know?”

“Oh, great. You going to start calling me a demon like everyone else now, too? ‘Cause the last person who did that—”

“Got you disqualified from the Pokémon League, I heard,” mused Kyle, looking at a tree. “Whatever. You don’t scare me anymore, Kevin.”

Growling, Kevin threw a Mach Punch, hitting nothing but air as his brother side stepped. Kyle gave Kevin a disgusted look before backing away.

“You can’t hit me,” he called.

“Oh please,” Kevin sighed. He jumped up and went straight into an Aerial Ace, aiming to slash at Kyle’s head. The Shade countered by using his own Aerial Ace to deflect the move.

He shook his head. “I have that move too. You can have all the power in the world… But that doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t hit your opponent.”

Kevin noted a bit of a smug tone to the last comment, as if Kyle truly believed he’d win, unlike every other battle the two had ever had. So the kid had gained some confidence in the last ten years. Kevin smirked. He could use that to his advantage.

Kevin went for a Flame Wheel, which Kyle sidestepped every time he got any close. After a few laps around, Kevin stuck his leg out and attempted to trip his brother. Kyle easily sidestepped it as well.

“You don’t get it, Kevin. I know your battling style. I’m faster than you. I can dodge,” He smirked. “But you can’t, can you? You don’t know how I battle at all, since you never gave me the chance to hit back. That means I win.”

Kevin threw another Mach Punch. At first it felt like it actually connected, but Kyle had just caught it in his hand.

…His left hand.

“Go to hell,” Kevin muttered.

“I hate you too, Kev,” said Kyle. And before Kevin could blink, his little brother had delivered the quickest Close Combat the world had ever seen. Twice. And then he was on the ground with The Shade standing over top of him.

“They called me a demon too, you know. It hurt me just as much.” Kyle stood up straight and started to walk away.

Kevin sat up immediately. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

Kyle didn’t even turn around. “We have nothing more to discuss. I’m going back to work,” He tossed a small object behind him, which Kevin caught. A quarter. “Why don’t you call Mom? Even if you won’t tell me the truth, I’d think she deserves to know, don’t you?”

And with that, the Shade ran off, the trees and other greenery hiding his path.

Kevin spat.

*

“So let me get this straight,” Chikoro said, pacing around the apple tree. “You’d never seen the Shade in a picture or anything, so you assumed he was your uncle based on his _voice_?”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “My brother used to have a voice like yours! How was I supposed to know that it got that deep?”

“That’s the other thing,” Chikoro stopped and tapped at the ground with his foot. “The thing you said earlier, about spending ten years in a box… What’s that about?”

Shrugging, Kevin looked up to the sky. It had been turning from bright blue to orange rather early, Kevin noticed, until he remembered it was the day after New Year’s. “It’s no big deal.”

“It sounded pretty big,” the Chikorita replied.

“Well, it wasn’t,” Kevin muttered.

Chikoro shook his head and walked up to Kevin, giving him a stern look. “What? Just because Kari’s not here means you won’t spill?” He paused, then added, “The Shade mentioned her, too. He knows her?”

Kevin grimaced and leant back against the bark of the tree, still staring upwards. “I trust Kari. Not you. And yeah… He knows her.” He felt really sick for some reason, saying that out loud.

“You sound absolutely thrilled,” Chikoro said.

“He—” Kevin said. There wasn’t really a pleasant way to put it, was there? “…Likes her.”

The Chikorita raised an eyebrow. “ _Likes her_ , likes her?”

“That’s what she told me,” he confirmed. Kevin suddenly remembered his joke-fantasy where his little brother and Kari were eating apples on a date and grimaced again.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Chikoro said. His eyes got shifty. “Can they even… Uh, you know…?”

Kevin somehow brought himself to laugh, “Arceus, no. Um, at least, I don’t think so.” He blinked. “Then again, neither could Uncle Nick and Aunt Lily…”

“Does this run in your family?” Chikoro blurted out, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“Huh?” Kevin asked.

The Chikorita shook his head. “You’re a quarter human, your Aunt and Uncle can’t mate, and your brother likes a turtle. Are you all like this?”

Kevin stared at the nine year old, unsure how to respond. He’d never really thought of it that way. Then again, it wasn’t like he thought about it that much at all.

“I mean, if you’re going to be weird like that, at least be able to have kids with it,” Chikoro went on, “like that Skitty and Wailord couple on TV.”

It took Kevin a moment to respond. “Skitty and Wailord can _breed_?”

“Yeah,” said Chikoro.

“And Monferno and Gardevoir can’t,” said Kevin.

“Your aunt and uncle?” Kevin nodded. “Weird. Uh— Hey! You’re supposed to be telling me why you spent ten years in a box!” the Chikorita said indignantly.

Kevin frowned. “What’s there to tell? I got caught, was in a box, I come out and it’s not 2000.” He felt no reason to inform the Chikorita why it had happened. After all, the logistics behind it were hard for Kevin to swallow himself, and if Chikoro was still hung up on him being part human…

“So when you registered, you really meant it when you said you were born—”

“In eighty-six? Yeah. Same year as Kari, I think.” Yeah, Kari was twenty-four, right?

Chikoro looked pensive. “I don’t get it though. Why didn’t you go home? Why did you come up with this ‘Slickky’ thing, and go around claiming the Shade’s beliefs were wrong and stuff? Why did you keep doing it when you found out?”

“I…” Kevin thought about it. There wasn’t really a clear reason. Well, except, maybe… “I guess I liked it. Being on an adventure, I mean.”

“An adventure?” Chikoro asked. “You mean, across Sinnoh getting badges?”

“Yeah, I guess. Look,” Kevin sighed, trying to figure out the best way to word what he wanted to say. “It was so boring in the woods. Everyone hated me, even my brother. So I went out on a journey, battling people and sneaking in to watch contests in Hoenn. And that was okay, I guess, but…”

Chikoro tilted his head. It seemed like he was actually concerned. Kevin scoffed.

“Arceus. When I got caught and was released in Sinnoh, I wanted to go home right away. But I didn’t know how to do that, so I just went along with Lana and the team and tried to root out information from them. Kari figured out I wasn’t… Er… She knew who I was. So she started dropping these hints that I was too much of an idiot to figure out, and eventually I heard what year it was, and then I realized what was going on.

“But by then, I had heard about the Shade, and Kari had become my first real friend, and… I told her I’d go kick his ass for leaving her behind back when they tried to escape the lab together. And here I am now, not even able to land a single hit on that scrawny little brat. And he’s the same one I’d always beat up as a kid. It sucks.”

There was silence. Good, Kevin wanted it that way. He had just spilled his guts to some kid for _no reason_. Arceus. He felt so damn _weak_.

Chikoro’s eyes were narrow. “Get up.”

“What? The hell are you mad for?” Kevin growled.

“I hate people like the Shade,” he said, “for leaving the people they love behind or whatever. It’s disgusting.” He turned around. “Come on, get up. We’re going to kick his ass, just like you said.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow in slight amusement. “I had no idea,” he muttered.

“I have a story too, you know. Unlike you, I don’t tell anyone and everyone who gives me the evil eye.” Well. What an arrogant little prick.

…But sometimes, it could be nice to have someone like that on your side.


	34. Chapter 34

Even though Chikoro was anxious to go and beat the crap out of Kyle, Kevin decided to take his time and actually use the quarter that had been hurled at him to call his mother. He’d been meaning to do that since October, for Arceus’s sake. The Chikorita grudgingly agreed, though he really was in a sour mood.

Upon finding a phone booth, Kevin marvelled at the fact that payphones hadn’t seemed to change at all in ten years… Or maybe no one had bothered to replace them. Whatever the case, Kevin inserted the quarter and punched in his phone number after squinting at the keypad for a minute.

As the phone rang, Kevin’s mind started to wonder how his father could have possibly gotten a phone working in a forest, but then again, with people like Bill for friends, things like that were probably trivial. Finally, someone picked up.

“Hello?”

Kevin swallowed. “Hi Mom,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound weird.

“Kevin? Oh, honey, you’re still okay! Turn the video on so I can look at you, okay?”

Glad that the video button was adorned with a small picture instead of a word, Kevin obeyed and switched on the video function of the payphone. He grinned nervously as it came on; his mother could go from super happy to berating in a heartbeat if the situation called for it.

She stared for a minute before frowning. “I really meant to call you back, honey, but you didn’t give me the number and you never called again…” Three, two, one. “You never called again! Do you have any idea how worried that made me? I’d almost convinced myself I’d hallucinated everything until Cory called and told me someone named ‘Slick’ started showing up in the news! Where are you? What happened to you?”

Kevin sighed. He thought he would have felt guiltier, but he was just relieved to hear his mom’s voice and see her again, even if she looked older. “Yeah, sorry about that, stuff came up. I’m in the Battle Frontier in Sinnoh. And… What happened is kind of a long story. Um, did you say that—”

“The Battle Frontier? Oh! Are you with Kyle?” his mother asked before he could finish.

“Uh, no,” Kevin said.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why not? I know you two aren’t the best of friends, but he’s your brother, honey, and he cares about you, too. He’d be happy to see you again and find out you’re alive!”

Kevin sighed disdainfully. “Look, Mom, we saw each other. It wasn’t pretty. Anyway, uh… Did you say Dad called?”

He was asking because as a kid, he was certain his mom had never gotten any phone calls from him at all. It seemed… odd.

“Yes, he did. He said you’ve been gathering gym badges—”

“But I thought— He _called_ you?”

Kevin’s mother blinked in understanding. “Sweetie, your brother went looking for you, after you disappeared. When he went missing too, I just couldn’t take it. So I called Bill and made him tell Cory to start calling me.” She folded her arms and shook her head. “Honey… Your father really isn’t the bad person you make him out to be. He really thinks what he did is right.”

Kevin shrugged.

“You admired him so much when you were little,” said his mother.

“Whatever. Anyway… I called because if I didn’t, Kyle would beat me to it and totally lie about everything like he always does, so listen, okay?” He saw his mother smirk a little while she nodded. “Right… Um, I got caught. I only got out recently. I’m still fourteen, and Kyle doesn’t believe me.”

His mother looked confused. “You’re still…? Well, I guess you look younger than you should. But… Does being caught really do that?”

“Not usually,” Kevin replied. “It was some really rare thing or something with the computer system. But the point is, I couldn’t have done anything about it. It was a complete accident. Can you please get that through to Bratty McSticklegs so he’ll believe me?”

His mother giggled. “I’ve really missed you honey. And, um, I’ll try to tell Kyle, but it may take a bit of work.” She smiled.

“Thanks Mom,” Kevin said.

“Just come home soon so I can see you in person,” she said. She then gave him a wink and hung up.

Kevin walked out of the phone booth feeling significantly happier. If he had known his mom would be that cool about everything, he would have called eons ago.

Chikoro watched him, his face displaying a look of contempt before immediately switching to false gusto. “So your dad’s a deadbeat? Don’t tell me that runs in your family, too.” It was creepy how threatening the kid could make his smiles look.

“It doesn’t,” Kevin said, gesturing to the northern route ahead. “Let’s go follow Kyle.”

Chikoro swung his leaf around and strode on forward. “Then why did your dad leave?”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “What’s with the interrogation?”

The Chikorita laughed. “Ha! Like I said before, it takes no effort to siphon details out of you. I’m just seeing how long it takes until I can write a book.”

“You are one messed up nine year old,” Kevin said. “And to think, when I first saw you I thought you were a weak little girl who’d be perfect for a contest.”

“As you’ve surely noticed, there are two different sides of me,” Chikoro said, hopping over a few stones on the path. “One’s the sweet, innocent little me who shows up when I like something, and the other’s, well, what you see right now.”

“So in other words, you’re like the little boy version of Kari,” Kevin said, remembering how cheerful she had become when they’d first started to work together.

“Kari’s cool,” said Chikoro. Kevin took that to mean he agreed.

*

Walking around and trying to find the Shade’s home proved difficult when Kevin realized he had absolutely no leads other than somewhere near the forbidden apple tree. For one, it took the pair nearly two hours to find it again, and once they did, the Spearow was nowhere to be found, leaving them with no clue for what to do next.

Chikoro had kept on chatting throughout the entire walk, every now and then adding in a prying comment or offhand question to catch Kevin off guard. It didn’t work, though – Kevin had decided to do what he did with Kari early on and just insult Chikoro every time it happened. It was working fairly well.

Eventually, after pacing around the tree for the millionth time, Chikoro snapped and shouted, “Hey, does anyone know where the Shade lives?” at the top of his lungs.

At first, there was no reply, but then, a Pokémon Kevin recognized as a Kecleon emerged from a bush to the left. “I think I can help you,” she said.

“Really?” Kevin asked, eyeing the girl and doubting she was going to be of any use.

“Mm hmm. I’ve seen him around. I’ll escort you, come on.” She gestured with her scaly hand and started walking towards the forest area she’d come from.

Kevin glanced at Chikoro, who shrugged and started to follow her. It wasn’t like he had much else to choose from, so Kevin went too. The wooded area felt nostalgic, almost as if he were heading home.

Chikoro broke the reminiscence. “Why didn’t you help us out earlier?” he asked the Kecleon.

“Well, for one, you didn’t shout out what you were doing until a second ago,” she said, raising her finger and wagging it. “Besides, I’m helping you now, so be grateful.”

Oddly, she seemed to shut Chikoro up. It was a relaxing change from before, and Kevin smiled. Now he had time to think.

…And though he didn’t really want to, all he could think about was how stupid he had been for the last few months.

He had actually made a pretty decent first deduction back in the mining town. After all, he wasn’t aware of the fact that the world had aged ten years, and if you ignored that, most of what he had figured made sense. It was when Kevin discovered he’d been stuck in a time capsule that was the problem.

Somehow, he had completely forgotten to update his conclusions with the new information, probably because he was overcome with shock. Therefore, he never added in the possibility of there being someone other than his uncle that could have been the Shade. And thus, he was caught completely off guard when Kyle turned out to be the real deal.

To think that that reporter had actually asked if Kevin were the Shade’s long lost son, though, oh, that was hilarious.

Kevin grinned to himself. Even if he were a bit too late in terms of usefulness, having everything cleared up was certainly a breather. The Shade didn’t actually want to kill him (probably), and now there was nothing in the dark. All he had left to do was convince his brother of the truth and he could finally go home. And maybe he’d bring Kari along too. She deserved it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the three of them came to a stop. Pointing to a sizable rock a few feet away, the Kecleon said, “There it is. It’s a little underground thing with a pseudo cave entrance. I’m going to go now.”

Kevin squinted. There was a large hole in the rock that could potentially lead to a cave of some sort. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“Mm,” mumbled the Kecleon before dashing back the way they came, turning invisible in the process. …Kind of rude.

Chikoro sighed. “I didn’t really trust that chick. You think this is really where the Shades live?”

“Let’s check,” said Kevin. He glanced around before picking up a nice-sized rock and hurling it into the cave’s entrance. He heard it reverberate with a thud.

“Um… What did you hit?” Chikoro asked.

Kevin shrugged. “Sounded like something solid. Maybe it’s just a dead end?”

The pair inched closer to the false cavern. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary emerge from the cave, Kevin opted to walk in, with Chikoro following closely behind. His tail lit up the narrow tunnel easily, but Kevin didn’t notice what they’d hit until they got to the bottom.

“Huh. This is interesting,” said a hulking Rhyperior. He was tossing a stone in his hand leisurely. “I thought I was the one who knew Rock Throw.”

Kevin blinked.

Chuckling, the Rhyperior shook his head. “You must be the big brother we’ve been hearing about. I’ll let you in,” He turned around with difficulty (he was so big that it caused him to remodel the surrounding walls) and entered what appeared to be the main room of sorts.

For an underground room, it was surprisingly well lit. There were candles in a lot of nooks in the walls, and a couple of battery-powered light sources were also visible. Along with that, there was actually some furniture. Scattered around the room were a little wooden table, mismatching stools and chairs, what appeared to be a homemade counter, and a worn little sofa, giving the cavern a homey atmosphere.

On that sofa was Kyle, drinking a box of apple juice. Several empty ones lay discarded beside him.

“I told you not to let him in if he showed up,” Kyle muttered irritably.

The Rhyperior shrugged. “Boss, you two need to make up. Otherwise, you’re going to be like this forever, and the press will think you’ve gone emo.”

Kyle rolled his eyes as Chikoro snickered softly. “The press already thinks I’m a criminal and an alcoholic. Emo isn’t that bad in comparison.” He eyed Kevin with contempt. “Of course, you’d just love it if that happened, right?”

“By my standards, you were emo the moment you were born,” muttered Kevin. “But I don’t care about that right now. We need to talk—”

He was interrupted by a blue fox who came skittering out of another room. “Oh my gosh! He’s here!” she said, coming to a stop directly in front of Kevin. “The infamous lost brother! Wow, Boss, you weren’t kidding when you said you looked nothing alike.”

“W-who are you?” Kevin asked.

The fox smiled. “Only Estelle Glacée the Glaceon, famed actress and Shade member! You can call me Stella, that’s what everyone else does. I handle all the press releases the Boss doesn’t feel like going to and I’ve even written a few things for him myself!” she exclaimed giddily.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “…Yeah. You also spill all the beans about Kyle’s personal life to crazy people, right?” he said, remembering Chuno’s claim that it was some actress who told him everything about Kari. He frowned.

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Stella. She appeared to be genuinely confused, but then again, she _was_ an actress.

“Whatever. Kyle,” Kevin said, walking around the ice type and coming to a stop in front of his brother. “Look. I was telling the truth before, okay?”

Kyle smiled. “Of course you were, Kev, you always are,” he said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. “Yep, I can count on you, just like I’m sure that when I end up in hell, I can go skiing,” He took a large swig from his juice box, draining it.

“How old are you? You’re acting like you’re seven,” Kevin growled.

“What, lost count? Twenty-two. Two years younger, just like always. That hasn’t changed,” he grumbled.

Kevin crossed his arms. “Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” Kevin said.

“Really?” asked Kyle absentmindedly.

Kevin leant closer so that he was eye to eye with his brother. “Do I look twenty-four? Think about it before you answer that one,” he said with a glare.

Kyle didn’t answer. Kevin sighed.

“Fine then. Let’s do a survey,” he mocked. “Chicky. What do you say?”

The Chikorita blinked. “Uh… The Shade doesn’t look like he’s in his twenties, either?”

Kevin smacked himself. “Fantastic support, right there. Why did I let you come along, anyway?”

The Shade laughed and got up off the couch. “ _Cute_. Look, Kevin, let me show you something.”

He wandered over to a grungy bookcase, bent over, and pulled out a hardcover book. Handing it to Kevin, he smirked. Kevin raised an eyebrow and looked at it.

On the book’s cover was a picture of Kyle. Kevin frowned. “What’s this?”

“Oh right, you’re an idiot. It’s a biography. Of me.” Kyle glared. “I’m important, Kevin. I’ve got stuff to do. Life changing stuff. Do you really expect me to sit here and take all this crap from someone who hasn’t been around for the last ten years? Do you?”

“I don’t care how famous you are,” Kevin said angrily, tossing the book behind him. “Pokémon rights, yadda yadda, I get that. What I don’t get is why you’re so unwilling to accept that I really didn’t mean to disappear all those years ago!”

Kyle turned to look at the wall. “I accepted that radio interview a few months ago so I could tell you to get here as soon as possible. Why did you go and do a whole Pokémon League first? Or do I just not matter to you?”

Kevin sighed. “That was the only way I could think of to get here,” he insisted. “If I placed high enough, I’d get a ferry pass to the Battle Frontier. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know, use _The Pidgeot Express_?” Kyle growled.

“The hell is that?” Kevin asked.

Kyle threw his arms up in the air. “It’s one of the first things I actually got people to fund! Public transportation that flies you anywhere, anytime! It’s kind of easy, don’t you think?”

“If it’s that great, why haven’t I heard of it? Why did nobody on my team, when I asked how I could get to you, mention anything like that?” Kevin snarled. “You talk really big, Kyle, you do. But since I’ve been here, the only thing I think you’ve managed to do is screw everything up!”

Kyle clenched his fists. “ _How so_?”

“For one, basically all of the loopholes and regulations you’ve supposedly fixed have gotten in my way,” Kevin said. “Second, I don’t know how you expect people to take you seriously if you’re _dressed up_ like that.”

“I’m not just wearing this for fun—”

“I know. You’re covering up that little run in with the window, right? So tragic.”

Kyle glared. “You— Who the hell told you?”

Kevin shook his head. “The little _Angel_ who calls himself the Naturalist knows as much. You should be a little more careful with your information, Ky.”

The Shade said nothing. He turned to face the bookshelf again. He stood there for a minute or two, before finally barking, “Stella!”

The Glaceon flinched. “Boss?”

“You leaked it,” he said, “to the whole world by telling _that rat_. Get out before I kill you.”

“Yes sir,” she said, her head hung. She ran out the doorway without wasting any time.

After she was gone, Kyle took a deep breath. “So, what version did you hear? A cutesy retelling from the rat, or the accurate story?”

“Both,” Kevin answered. Kyle turned his head enough so that one eye was visible. Kevin continued. “I heard the cutesy poem, yeah, but I also heard what really happened. You tried to punch a window, and it turned out badly. Sucks.”

“You’re making it sound like a sick joke,” Kyle growled.

Kevin shook his head. “You’re not taking me seriously. Why should I bother feeling sorry for you?”

Again, Kyle said nothing. Kevin stared at the back of his brother’s head. As angry as he was at the moment, Kevin couldn’t help but notice how sickly Kyle looked. When you couldn’t see the handsome face, all that remained was a skinny, malnourished little kid. Just like always.

After a long wait, Kyle went back to the couch, picking up a new juice box. He opened it and took a sip, eyeing Kevin carefully. “Fine. We’ll talk. _Seriously_.” He turned to Chikoro and the Rhyperior. “Rhy, take the kid and leave us for an hour, ‘kay?”

“Sure thing, Boss,” replied the Rhyperior, who immediately dragged a protesting Chikoro back through the entrance and up to the surface.

Kyle finished his juice and placed it beside him. “All right. I’ll go first,” Kyle said. Kevin nodded. “And… I’ll be mature about it if you are, too.”

Kevin smirked. “No promises.”

“Like you’ve ever promised me anything,” Kyle said. Despite that, he smiled, too. “Right. Might as well get something out of the way, first.”

Kevin waited for him to continue. Kyle rested his chin on his hands.

“I… I think I might be dying.”


	35. Chapter 35

“No you’re not.”

It was a statement, a simple one. After he said it, Kevin grabbed his brother by the sweater. “Don’t go all Uncle Nick on me, because I swear if I’m really Dad in this messed up play—”

“What— Kevin, it’s not like that, I’m not suicidal.” Kevin let go and Kyle straightened himself up before rolling up his right sleeve. “See, it’s just… this.”

Kevin stared at his arm. “Um… is there supposed to be something wrong?”

“I’m really skinny.”

“You’ve always been a stick,” Kevin said. “How is this a big problem? Or a fatal one?”

Kyle sighed. “Come on. You were always telling me my diet would be the death of me.” He got up, putting his hands into his sweater pocket. “And, uh, my lungs haven’t been too good lately. So I’m pretty sure soon, one of them’s going to do me in.”

“So see a _nurse_ ,” Kevin said. “Or better yet, eat something other than an apple. Don’t scare me with your paranoia fuel!”

Kyle shifted his position and shrugged. “Just saying so you don’t get mad at me if I randomly drop dead,” he said. He then stared at the floor. “So… Uh, I kind of already said everything else.”

Kevin scoffed. “I guess you did. Fine, then. I’ll go now.” He glanced to the floor as well. “It’s like I said. I got caught around ten years ago, got shoved into the computer storage system, and only just got released a few months ago. I had no idea you were the Shade, and if I did, things would have probably worked out differently.”

He considered mentioning Kari, but something got caught in his throat and he decided to save it for later.

“Huh,” Kyle muttered. “I guess… I can’t really blame you for that, even if I want to.” He walked over to the counter and pulled out a crate from underneath it with some difficulty. “Um… You want one?”

The crate was full of apples, of course. Kevin raised an eyebrow and followed. “Sure.”

He plucked a red delicious from the pile and took a bite. After chewing for a bit, he frowned. “These aren’t as good as back home,” Kevin said.

“Because it’s January,” Kyle said, “and it’s barely warm enough here to grow them year round. It’s miles ahead of kibble, though, so I’m glad for it.”

There was a foreboding silence for a few minutes as the two ate their apples. Kevin felt like he needed to say something, but he just couldn’t think of what. And judging by the expression on his brother’s face, Kyle seemed to be thinking the same thing. Finally, Kyle said something.

“Um, that rat, the Naturalist, did he— did he say anything about, um, my personal life, or anything?” Kyle had turned his face away.

Kevin blinked and turned the other way as well. Arceus, what was he supposed to answer to that? _Yes Kyle, Chuno told me you’re in love with a gigantic grass turtle and I’m completely okay with that_. Like, really?

“Uh… I don’t know, was there something important I should know?” Kevin stalled.

He felt Kyle tense up. “Ha! Uh, no, not particularly, I mean, um…”

Kyle sure didn’t sound as confident as he did during their fight. He actually seemed like he was back to being submissive like when they were younger. Kevin opted to steer away from the topic. “Hey, uh, there’s something you should know, though. I called Mom, and she told me she’s been talking to Dad.”

Kyle shrugged. “And that’s important because?”

“Eh? Don’t you care?” Kevin asked.

“Why should I? I barely remember the guy. If Mom wants to talk to him, that’s her problem, not mine.” He finished his apple and tossed the core into a small bag under the counter. “Besides, if she’s been talking to him, maybe they’ve made up or whatever and they’ll get back together.”

Kevin nearly choked on his apple. “Dad’s a human, now!”

“So was _his_ dad. And Mom’s nuts, she wouldn’t care either way,” Kyle muttered.

Kevin threw the rest of the apple into the garbage bag. “Oy vey. I wish we were normal.”

His brother stared at the bag. “Mm. I used to think that too. But then, I thought, if I were normal, I’d be one of those stuck up asses at Mount Chimney who can’t tolerate anything the least bit different. At least, someone told me that, a while ago.”

Kari. That sounded like something she’d say. Blunt and honest.

“Our lives suck,” It was Kyle, not Kevin, this time.

Kevin blinked.

_“I still don’t understand… How you think you’re so different, and yet you’re both the same.”_

He smirked. “You only just noticed?”

*

Kevin had decided to cease all attacks on his brother and form a temporary alliance. After all, Kyle had grown up quite a bit, and was actually tolerable to be around when they weren’t at each other’s throats. In fact, somehow, Kevin was finding him somewhat likeable.

The major problem he now faced was what to do. Without an ass to kick or a goal in mind, Kevin found himself at a loss. He wanted to go see Kari again, but he still didn’t really know what to say to his brother about that. And Chikoro was still furious.

The kid had been glowering at Kyle ever since he was allowed back inside the cave. Kevin figured it had something to do with Chikoro’s odd grudge against deadbeats, but Kyle and Kari weren’t ever really _together_. Or were they?

Every time he thought about it, Kevin either got a stomachache or a sore throat. Kari had admitted she was in love with the Shade, right, but she’d never actually said anything about Kyle feeling the same way. And Kyle himself had just referred to her as his best friend, even if he had gotten weird while they were talking before…

It was then Kevin realized with a start that he considered Kari his best friend, too. “Aw hell,” he muttered.

“Something stress-worthy?” Chikoro asked darkly.

“No, forget it,” replied Kevin. He leaned back in the wooden chair.

He had spent most of the day sitting in the small underground headquarters. Over the course of the day, Kyle had introduced him to the rest of the Shades. The Rhyperior who was first at the door was simply known as Rhyperior; he had no given name. There was also an ancient-looking Froslass named Snow. The two were apparently the other members of the original Shades, otherwise known as the ones who could speak human without any pill.

The both of them reportedly had learned from humans they’d become close to. Rhyperior had some hiker friend who influenced him with all sorts of human stuff, giving him incentive to learn the human language. Snow had been raised from birth by her late trainer and knew nothing else.

Kevin listened to the Shades casually chat with each other. None of them really seemed any different from regular Pokémon like Chuno or Kari did. In fact, listening to them, it was almost like hearing the Taillow or Shroomish talk to one another back in the forest.

He glanced at Kyle, who was on the sofa, deep in thought. Nobody was paying any attention to him. Okay, so it was exactly like back in the forest.

Kevin stood up. “Is this all you guys do?”

Rhyperior chuckled. “It’s Monday. Everyone’s too tired to do anything else.”

Kyle nodded. “Stella’s usually the one who does all the busy work. The rest of us are idea people. And it’s not like we can walk around in public and hang out, you know.”

“You do that all the time,” said the Absol. Kyle ignored him.

“You sent Stella out,” Kevin said.

His brother sighed. “That’s different. She likes attention, anyway.”

“She likes attention from you, Boss,” said Snow in her creaky voice.

“Shut up,” he muttered.

Kevin snickered. “Even then, I’ve been walking around in public and I’ve only had one group of girls ask for my autograph,” he said.

The Shade shook his head. “You’re not that well known yet, you egotist. You’ve got to _do_ something before people start stalking you.”

“Chuno was stalking me, earlier,” Kevin noted.

“That rat is a special case,” Kyle said curtly. “Look, if you feel like going outside, that’s fine. Do whatever you want. I’m staying here.”

Kevin frowned. “That’s no fun.”

Kyle glared. “What’s with you? Why do you suddenly want us to hang out together? Is it just some ploy to make you look good with the media?”

“No,” Kevin folded his arms. “Um… You said you had bad lungs, right? It’s probably from all this time you spend underground. Get some fresh air or something.”

Kyle raised an eyebrow.

“He has a point, Boss,” said Snow.

The Shade sighed. “Fine. We’ll walk around town, and you’ll regret it. Just you wait.” He glanced at Chikoro. “You’re not going to bring that kid along, too, are you?”

Chikoro flipped his leaf. “If you _insist_ , Mr. Shade, I’ll stay here.”

“Right,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his sunglasses. “Let’s go.”

Kevin shrugged and followed his brother out of the underground room. As they climbed the tunnel to the surface, Kevin squinted his eyes; the light from outside was blinding. It would’ve been nice to have a pair of shades as well.

“Heh, the Shade is wearing shades. Nice,” he said.

Kyle scoffed. “Every newspaper in the world has already used that one.” They stepped onto grass. “Now, when I’m tired I usually call someone from the Pidgeot Express to fly me if I need to go into the city, but with my luck I’ll get Fabian and he’ll pester me all about you,” Kyle said.

Kevin blinked. “Fabian?”

“He’s a Pidgeot who won’t shut up, ever. He’s also a big fan of Stella’s,” Kyle muttered. Kevin laughed.

“’Kay, then let’s walk. Uh, you can lead,” Kevin said, looking around and forgetting exactly which way he’d come from to get to the headquarters before.

The technically younger brother nodded and proceeded to walk directly into the trees to his right. Kevin followed closely behind him. The two walked quietly, neither one starting a conversation. For Kevin, he’d simply run out of non-awkward topics to talk about. For Kyle… Well, he didn’t know, but Kevin doubted his brother was very social.

From an onlooker’s viewpoint, it could be said that the Shade was popular. He had a decent number of people supporting his organization, one of whom was an actress, and a formidable opinion in the sea of crazy nutjob activists like Chuno. And yet, Kyle was still the dark and cynical introvert he always was, just with a voice to match, now.

Kevin blinked. “Oh, right,” he said.

“Mm?” Kyle muttered.

“Um… A few people have already told me,” Kevin said. “I want to hear it from you, though. Can you explain to me exactly what the Shades stand for?”

Kyle turned his head back slightly before facing forward again. “The main goal of the Shades is an attempt to make Pokémon and humans equals. Most of that comes from giving Pokémon all the basic rights humans have. You know, freedom of speech, religion, all that stuff.”

“But… would that even work?” asked Kevin. “I mean, there are so many kinds of Pokémon. Is it even possible to, you know, have a Magikarp be treated the same way as, say, you or me, or even the same way as a human?”

The Shade sighed again. “I know there are some things that won’t change,” he said. “Magikarp will probably never be able to become accountants or anything. But…” He paused. “I met this person in Rowan’s lab, and she was the smartest person I’d ever met. But she was just a starter – a human’s possession – and could never hope to be anything more. At least, that’s what she used to think.”

Kevin glanced to the side, eyeing a knotted old tree as he walked past it. “So you’re doing this so she can be treated decently,” he said.

“In the end, that’s what it all comes down to,” Kyle said. “The two of us deserve the chance to live the way we want to. Rowan saw her as a scrap of dysfunctional data. I saw her as a person. She deserves it.”

Kevin furrowed his brow. “You really love her, don’t you?”

Kyle stopped, causing Kevin to almost crash into him. “I…” He took a breath. “If I did, then why isn’t she here with me right now?”

“You tell me,” Kevin said, tasting sourness.

The Shade started walking again, faster. “Because— Because she told me to leave her behind, otherwise I’d never get out, and I listened to her, that’s why! And even if I didn’t, she wouldn’t –  we couldn’t – it just won’t work. Believe me.”

Kevin continued to stare at the forest scenery. Kyle seemed to be trying to convince himself more than Kevin. And for some reason, that made Kevin even sicker.

“We’re here,” Kyle said, stopping abruptly again. He gestured to what lay beyond the last few trees; tourist shops and restaurants that made up the downtown. “What do you want to do?”

Kevin stared at the town. “Make a speech.”

“What?”

“Tell everyone the truth. Why you’re doing this, your escape plan, everything.”

“Why would I do that?” Kyle asked, giving Kevin a dirty look.

“Because Chuno knows everything. One way or another, it’s all going to become widespread. If they hear it from you first, though, things might get reported a little differently,” Kevin didn’t take his gaze off the town. “Personally, I find a slightly selfish but relatable motive for starting the Shades is better than the noble knight in shining armour thing you’ve been going for. For one, people might actually support you.”

Kyle turned to the town. “No,” he said.

Kevin said nothing.

“I can’t just make a speech on such short notice like that. Contrary to what you might think, they take a lot of work. And I’m not guilt tripping people into supporting me just because of Kari. No matter what you say,” he insisted.

“Really?” questioned Kevin, finally looking at his brother.

“She’s a _person_ ,” he said, “not a device to gain popularity. If I ever want her to forgive me, I have to know that.”

“If you want her to forgive you, shouldn’t you go back and apologize?” Kevin said.

The Shade growled, but didn’t elaborate. Kevin frowned. Great, the one thing that still didn’t make sense wasn’t getting answered. _Why didn’t he go back_?

Without saying anything, Kyle stalked out of the forest and into town. Still confused, Kevin followed, weaving around curious tourists to catch up. As he matched his brother’s pace, Kevin glared at him.

“Come on. It’s not like you have Dad’s sorry excuse for leaving,” he spat.

Kyle growled again. “Drop it.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you answer me? Just _what_ is keeping you from going back?”

“Why do you care? You don’t even know who she is,” seethed Kyle, turning a corner. “What’s it to you if I don’t— Uh.” He stopped.

Stella was outside a coffee shop, looking quite gloomy. “Oh… Hello, Boss. Slickky.”

Kyle blinked. “What are you doing here?”

She half-smiled. “You told me to get out, didn’t you?” She then widened her eyes. “Oh, did you mean off the island? Because if you hate me that much, Boss, I’m really really sorry and—”

“No, it’s…” Kyle took off his sunglasses and massaged his temples. “My brother is bothering me, that’s all.”

“I’m just asking you a question,” said Kevin, folding his arms.

Kyle frowned. “And I thought I heavily implied that I don’t want to talk about it,” he said sharply. “Anyway, Stell, it’s a good thing I ran into you. We need to talk about your membership.”

Kevin eyed his brother. “You’re firing her?”

“Shut up,” Kyle said. “This is a conversation between me and Stella, so butt out!”

“Then why’d you start it in front of me?” Kevin asked, the corner of his mouth curling into a smirk. “I swear you do the stupidest stuff sometimes,” he said, laughing at Kyle’s murderous expression.

Stella sighed. “It’s okay, I understand.” She looked her boss in the eye. “I guess I sometimes trust other people a bit too much.”

_“That can be a very fatal flaw, Miss Glacée. Be careful about it in the future, if you know what’s good for you.”_

Oh, goddamn it.

Kevin turned around, confirming his suspicions. “Piss off.”

 _“Now why would I do that?”_ Chuno asked, shaking his head. _“After all…”_ He licked his teeth. _“I barely got a chance to have fun.”_


	36. Chapter 36

Kyle’s breathing was heavy. Kevin didn’t know if it was from anger or something else. All he knew was that nothing pleasant was going to come of the situation before him.

 _“Hello Shady,”_ Chuno said happily. _“And my boy, too! How nice to see you both together at last.”_ He faked a pout. _“Oh? Your sweetheart’s not with you?”_

“You know _damn well_ she’s not,” Kyle said, his voice almost a whisper. “Cut the crap. What are you going to try and kill me with this time?”

 _“Well,”_ said Chuno, _“let’s see. Attempt number three… I think I’ll use whatever I can. At this point, I don’t really mind.”_

Kevin glanced at his brother. “Hold on, attempt number three?!”

Chuno grinned. _“Oh yes! The first time, my assistant brought me a gun! However, he failed to inform me it had no bullets.”_ Chuno shrugged. _“Shady didn’t even notice that one until I told him about it later, when I decided to use glass. That one almost went my way.”_ It was like he was talking about a simple schoolyard game.

“So you’re going to try in public, right here and now, with whatever you’ve got?” Kyle rasped. “ _What a shame_. It sounds like you used up your imagination.” Kyle was shaking again, and Kevin felt the air’s temperature rise.

 _“Oh, no, no. I haven’t gone dry, don’t you worry. In fact, I cooked up something just for you. Would you like to hear it?”_ His pupils dilated.

Kyle spat out a flame. “ _Sure_ , why don’t you share it with the class?”

Chuno cleared his throat dramatically.

“One day on a summer night, dear Shady had a scare,

He felt that something wasn’t right; his comrades weren’t there.

Cautiously he turned around, looking for a sign,

But not one face was to be found, except, of course, for mine.

The harshest insults were exchanged, some shouted through tears,

And although with a smile he feigned, he couldn’t hide his fears.

I cornered Shady to a wall, I cursed his family’s graves,

Sliced him with the glass so small as he tried to be brave.

I thought it had worked out for me, I thought I had him dead,

But to my anger and his glee, he turned us ‘round and said:

‘I promised her I wouldn’t kill, now get out ‘fore I do,’

And would you like to know my response?”

He giggled.

Kyle stared at him.

“Hell, I’ll kill her, too.”

Kyle said nothing for a moment. All he did was stare at the Raichu, unmoving. Then, without warning, he shot a huge Flamethrower at Chuno.

The Raichu swiftly dodged, side stepping much like Kyle had in his fight with Kevin. _“What’s the matter? Didn’t you like it? It was all about you,”_ he said, his voice sleek.

“Why do you have to bring her into this? I don’t care if you insult me, but—”

 _“That’s precisely why I bring your precious turtle into this. Abominations like you deserve to suffer.”_ The look he had from the league match had resurfaced, clouding his features with wrath.

“Damn you!” Kyle glared. “I’d like to know what your definition of an abomination is, because if I qualify and a psycho murderer who can’t feel pain doesn’t, something’s definitely wrong.”

 Chuno chuckled darkly. _“Easy. You have human blood in your veins. That’s all it takes.”_

Kevin stepped up, growling. “Not this again. Can’t you ever think of any other reason?”

The Naturalist glanced at Kevin lazily. _“Oh, boy. That’s the only reason I need.”_

It was Kevin’s turn to fire a Flamethrower.

 _“Well now,”_ said Chuno as he jumped out of the way. _“Two on one is hardly fair. Lizzie! Keep the boy preoccupied, will you?”_

 _“Of course, sir,”_ said a female voice.

A Kecleon stepped out into the battle, as if appearing out of thin air, and aimed a Slash at Kevin. He stepped back, glaring, before he blinked.

“Wait, you’re that lady who showed me the Shades’ headquarters,” he said.

The Kecleon looked at him. _“What? Do you feel betrayed or something?”_ she asked.

Kevin grimaced. “As if you were that nice to begin with.”

Chuno nodded. _“You didn’t think I’d just let you go off on your own, did you, boy? I had Lizzie tail you for a couple of days after I beat you.”_ He grinned. _“I learned some very interesting things from her, too!”_

Kevin’s breath got caught in his throat. Wait… Since after their battle at the league…

_“Don’t you think she’s a little old for you? Or do you forget you haven’t aged for ten years?”_

That _damn_ rat.

“Stella!” yelled Kevin. “Don’t just sit there, help us kill this worthless son of a—”

“Kevin!” shouted Kyle. “I don’t know what he’s going on about, but _try to ignore it_ , okay? I’ll deal with him, just get rid of his lackey!”

Kevin blinked a few times before grinding his teeth and agreeing.

“Good! Stell, he’s right, get up and do something useful. Come on!”

Kevin shifted his attention to the Kecleon in front of him. All right, this was a Hoenn Pokémon. He’d seen them on the way to Lilycove. They liked to disappear into the bushes a lot. She was green, maybe a grass type? He’d see what a Flame Wheel would do.

He quickly spun into the attack and crashed into his opponent. Judging by the amount of reeling, she was most likely _not_ weak to fire. Fantastic. Maybe a Mach Punch, then?

The Kecleon stretched, her green scales slowly fading to red. Kevin stared, confused. Um… Cool? Not that it made any sense. She smiled.

 _“Oh? You haven’t seen this before? That changes things,”_ she said. She then held out her hands, forming a small, glowing orb between them. _“Here you go, hon. Have fun.”_

She shot the ball towards Kevin, hitting him in the chest. Oddly, it didn’t hurt at all. Another glowing orb appeared and returned to her. She grinned, her scales reverting to green again.

“What was that?” Kevin asked. The closest thing he’d seen to that move was… er, nothing. He’d seen glowing blobs that did damage, but nothing like that.

 _“You’ll see,”_ she said, uncurling her tail and curling it back up again.

Well, okay. Kevin went straight into a Mach Punch, wondering if she’d just weakened his attack power or something. However, it was a solid (and super effective looking) hit. Kevin eyed her steadily.

She turned around as the stripe on her stomach began to glow in various colours. Then, the Kecleon opened her mouth, shooting out a beam of the same multicoloured energy. That was… Psybeam, most likely. Crap.

Despite his efforts to dodge in time, Kevin was hit by the psychic move. He retaliated by going into another Mach Punch, hitting the Kecleon swiftly in the jaw. Only this time, it didn’t seem to be as effective.

Kevin stepped back, weary. Great. And he still didn’t know what the mystery move could be. He braced himself for another Psybeam.

The Kecleon smirked and disappeared. Oh, excellent, she could go invisible while battling? Just what he needed. She caught Kevin off guard by suddenly reappearing behind him and slashing him. Faint Attack.

Wait… Faint Attack wasn’t supposed to hurt that much, he was a fighting type. “Tch,” he muttered before going for a Flamethrower. She was playing him well with whatever strategy she was using, and Kevin didn’t like it.

The Kecleon took the Flamethrower, and then closed in once again for what looked like Brick Break. Kevin countered with Aerial Ace, attempting to soften the strangely painful blow once more…

Hold on. Every attack felt like she had a type advantage. But how was that possible? Unless that move somehow did something…

 _“Did you figure it out?”_ asked the Kecleon, smiling. _“I used Skill Swap to give you my ability. Of course, you can’t change colour like I can, but the effects are still the same.”_

“Change colour?” Kevin muttered. Well, whatever was going on, whatever ability she had was making each of her hits against him hurt. And, apparently, making his hits against her weaker. He’d never heard of an ability like that before.

Well, fine. He’d just have to be relentless and try not to let up on attacking. He flipped into a Flame Wheel again, this time putting as much power into it as he could. The ability’s effects were nerfing his blows, but so long as he hit enough, it’d still work out, right?

It seemed to work better than Flamethrower, though that wasn’t saying much. Wasting no time, he immediately followed up with a Mach Punch, which was just as good as the first hit. So… he was back to normal? Maybe?

The Kecleon countered with another Psybeam, despite the punch. And, once again, it felt super effective. Throwing another punch, he was confused when it was suddenly weaker again. If he was back to normal—

“Ah!” Kevin said, finally realizing what was going on. “You’re changing my type every time you hit me, right?”

 _“That’s right. Am I wearing you down?”_ The Kecleon smirked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kevin muttered. “Hey, Kyle!” he yelled to his right.

“I can’t really talk right now!” His brother replied angrily, narrowly avoiding a pounce from Chuno.

Kevin aimed a Flame Wheel at the Raichu, knocking him away for a moment. “Let’s switch!”

Kyle blinked. “What? Why?”

“You can dodge stuff, making her ability useless,” Kevin said, gesturing to the Kecleon who was eyeing him in amusement. “And, uh,” he muttered, “I’m sort of pissed with Chuno. Sound fair?”

The Shade shrugged. “If you insist. Stella, back him up, okay?”

The Glaceon, who had previously been half-helping and half standing back in shock, nodded before trotting up beside them. “Y-yes, Boss.”

Kyle glared at her. “I didn’t let you join just so you could get cold feet and run away, all right?” He didn’t seem to notice the pun he made as he hurried over to the left to take on the Kecleon.

Stella bit her lip. Kevin would have said something to her if a painful electric shock didn’t suddenly hit him.

 _“Switch out, switch in. Switch in, switch out. Either way, Shady’s still dead,”_ Chuno mused. He was poised on all fours, his tail swishing. _“It might be a little egregious to kill you too, but… Yes, that would hurt the turtle and end your sorry hybrid race. Hmph. Two with one stone, I guess.”_

Kevin grimaced. Damn. He’d thought Chuno would ease up if he wasn’t attacking Kyle, but it was only getting worse.

Chuno began to charge up electricity, but then faltered. _“Oh dear, what have we now?”_

“Police! Don’t move!”

Kevin glanced over his shoulder to see several officers in uniform. Several had their hands at their weapons, watching them in anticipation. He groaned. Just perfect.

Chuno looked utterly revolted. “This is none of your concern, officer!”

“This is a non-battling area! You all are under arrest—”

The Raichu sent his charged energy straight at the talking policeman. “Yeah, yeah, piss off,” he said as the electricity barely missed the man’s ear.

Drawing their weapons, the backup aimed at Chuno. He scoffed.

“Hey Shady,” he spat, turning his gaze to Kyle, who had halted his battle with the Kecleon a few feet away. “Two months ago I was able to hunt for my dinner here without any qualms, and now I can’t have a friendly little battle with you? See, this equality garbage hinders us! This is why you should stick to naturalism.” Uh… What?

Kyle rolled his eyes. “That’s your story, huh? Fine. Two months ago, I had no problems walking to the coffee shop to meet up with my employee. And now, you suddenly spring a battle on us, out of nowhere? Talk about rude.” …Double what.

The police looked at Kevin, who started sweating. “Wha— what?”

Stella sighed, patting Kevin on the leg. “There there, Mr. Slick. You’re new to all this, aren’t you? Mr. Shade and Mr. Chuno have been at this for a while; a punch here, a shock there, you know. You’ll get used to it in time.” Oookay.

Chuno stood up, brushing off his knees. “Yes, that’s all. A simple test of skills from one celebrity to another. If you insist, officer, we will hold our future meetings outside the downtown core.” He turned around and started to leave. “Lizzie, let’s go!”

The Kecleon followed without a word. Kevin stared.

“We should be going too, I think,” said Kyle. He turned to the police. “Sorry for the misunderstanding.” He then ushered Kevin and Stella into the forest before any of the cops could say a word.

…. _What_.

*

“What _was_ that?” Kevin asked.

Kyle glanced up from the couch. He shrugged. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“What?”

“It means,” he said, adjusting his position, “that the police hate me more than that rat does, believe it or not. And I don’t want to be arrested.”

They had all managed to get back to the Shades’ headquarters without any problems. All the way, Kyle had looked absolutely murderous, though he seemed to have calmed down now.

Stella nodded from her sear beside Kyle. “It all started last time the Boss and I had a falling out.” She sighed. Kevin figured since she had come back, too, Kyle wasn’t firing her.

“ _What_ all started?” Kevin asked. He was definitely missing something.

“See, last year, Chuno attacked him out in public like that at one of our publicity events. He didn’t say it was a murder attempt or anything, but…” She shook her head, continuing. “Well, the police showed up, charging the both of them with crimes against humanity or something like that.”

“So the rat tried to get out of it by pretending it was all a game, and since I didn’t want to go to jail either I sort of went with it and said it was part of some stunt,” Kyle said, bitterly. “And now the media thinks we’re friendly rivals or something stupid like that. So I figured the best way to avoid getting shot again was to do the same thing.”

Kevin frowned. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Do I look okay with it? I just didn’t want to have to deal with the police. You wouldn’t either.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I just wish he actually hit the officer so they’d charge him for assault.”

“Pfft.” Kevin heard a chuckle from behind the couch. Looking behind, Chikoro was lying there. “This Chuno sounds like quite the handyman,” he said.

“Uh, what?” Kevin asked.

“Oh, come on. You’re both just tools to him. Sounds to me like the ball’s in his court,” the Chikorita said smoothly.

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “You know, if you have nothing useful to say, just shut up.” He didn’t need multiple analogies about Chuno’s prowess right now.

Chikoro got up, smirking. “As a matter of fact, I do have something useful to say.” He trotted over to the front of the room. “Want to hear it?”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Kyle sighed. “Oh, why not?”

Chikoro grinned. “Okay, then. First off, actress lady, plan a speech or something.”

“Huh?” said Stella. “What for?”

“First, we take a leaf out of Chuno’s book and manipulate the media. Once that’s done, Mr. Shade here is going to take a vacation to Twinleaf Town,” the Chikorita said.

“Twinleaf?” Kyle asked. “Isn’t that some town in the sticks? Why there?”

“That’s where all Slickky’s allies are,” Chikoro said. “From there, we’ll lure Chuno out. Like a party, or something, he wouldn’t miss that. And that is where we make our move,” he finished.

Kyle glared. “Make our move, huh? I don’t know what you think I do, but I don’t kill people, kid,” he said darkly.

“Fine then. If you won’t, I will,” he said, his nose upturned.

The Shade growled. “Do you even know how serious this is?”

“Yeah, I think I do! This guy has been torturing you two and won’t stop! What, you want to lock him up? Catch him in a Pokéball? Whatever you do, it has to be permanent, or he’s gonna drive you both insane!” Chikoro sighed. “And… Slickky’s my trainer. I kind of feel obligated to help.”

As he shrunk down into his leaf, Chikoro seemed a little embarrassed. Kevin shook his head. “You are one messed up kid,” he muttered.

“Not as messed up as you,” he retorted. He nodded to Stella. “So! Let’s get this set up!”

He marched off down the hallway, the ice type reluctantly at his heels. The two brothers stared at his retreating back for a moment.

Finally, Kyle spoke. “How exactly did you meet this kid?”

Kevin scoffed. “He was supposed to be a Cyndaquil.” Kyle glanced, curious. “It’s a long story,” Kevin said.

Well. Chikoro wasn’t going to let them out of it, was he? Kevin would have to make do. That seemed to be all he was doing recently. But if all went well, maybe he’d finally get to go back home and relax.

That day couldn’t come any sooner.


	37. Chapter 37

“Are you sure this is a good idea? I’ve kind of got this reputation as a lying delinquent, you know,” Kyle said, eyeing the clearing that was to be the stage for their public service announcement, or whatever Chikoro wanted to call it. At this point, his complaints were kind of rhetorical; after all, it wasn’t like the Shade was going to bail at the last minute.

Chikoro sighed, his leaf flipping over to the side of his head yet again. “Whether the media thinks you’re reputable or not, we need to catch Chuno’s attention.”

Kyle smirked. “Then why don’t we just say, ‘Hey, Chuno! We’re going to Twinleaf Town, so follow us!’?”

“Because that’s too obvious,” Chikoro said, his eyes narrowing. “The whole point of this is to trick the guy into a false sense of security, while _also_ attempting to get a better following for you. You got it?”

Kyle shrugged. “Whatever you say, kid. But if this backfires, I blame you. Right Kev?”

Kevin looked up. “Huh?”

“God, you’re spacing out again? Wake up already,” said his brother. He stretched an arm. “I had no idea your brain was capable of that much thought. Or is it just completely empty?”

“You know, if you were nice, maybe people would actually like you,” Kevin said, scoffing.

“No need. Plenty of people like me no matter what I do to get them to stop,” said Kyle, shrugging casually. “You’ve seen Stella. I’ve almost fired her about twenty times and yet she still thinks I’m the best boss ever.”

Kevin blinked. “Maybe that’s ‘cause you’ve _never actually fired her_?”

Kyle’s smirk disappeared as his face darkened. “Well, I couldn’t do that.”

Scoffing, Kevin straightened up. “Why do you keep her around anyway? 

“Stella’s really valuable to the Shades. She does a lot of annoying technical stuff I can’t handle on my own,” he replied, putting on his sunglasses. “She makes the phone calls, deals with the humans, and pretty much everything else aside from actually writing content. I mean, if I was the one who had to set up these public things, I think I’d go crazy. But she seems to like it. She’s really easy to talk to, too.”

As if on cue, Stella then appeared from the clearing. “Hey, Boss! Ten minutes, all right?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said. He then turned to Kevin. “Are you ready?”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah.”

Kyle eyed him. “Really?”

“What, don’t I look ready?”

“Well…” Kyle shrugged yet again, “You seemed pretty deep in thought, there. Is there something else you wanted to ask?”

Perhaps Kari’s analyzing skills had rubbed off on him or something. Kevin tapped his foot, chuckling. “It’s just… The reason all this happened, that’s all.”

Kyle, who didn’t seem to care _too_ much about what Kevin had to say, began to walk towards the clearing where Stella was. “What do you mean by that?”

Kevin chuckled again. “The only reason you got captured and became the Shade is because you wanted to find me when I disappeared. No offense or anything, but… A tiny little twelve-year-old like you wouldn’t stand a chance travelling across the land on a journey like that. What made you do it?”

The Shade slowed. “Gee, I don’t know,” he said darkly, “maybe because Mom was in pieces over losing _another_ family member, and all I seemed to be able to do was sit there and let the Taillow stare at us like we belonged in a zoo. You really think that I would just do nothing about it?”

“All I’m saying is that you never did anything when I was around,” Kevin said, becoming defensive. “You never seemed like the type!”

“Because you never let me do anything! You were constantly trying to prove that you could do everything all by yourself, and when you did want me to do something, chances were you’d beaten me up from a stupid battle and I was too weak to do it!”

Kevin heard a laugh from behind. The two of them whirled around to see Chikoro, who was starting to double over.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Kevin irritably.

“Oh, nothing, Slickky, I think it’s just hilarious. Carry on, carry on!” said the Chikorita.

Kevin rolled his eyes. “You’re really annoying, you know that?”

“Uh huh. I can’t wait until we go to Twinleaf Town,” he said, flashing a grin.

“Why’s that?” Kevin asked.

“With any luck, I’ll get Pokérus from a certain person,” he said, his grin wide. “I think Mr. Shade would like to meet her, too.”

Damn… He didn’t know if he wanted _that_ to happen.

Kevin shook his head, waving his hand to the side. “Nah, we’ll be too busy to have time for introductions. Kyle can meet her _some other time_.” He hoped the message was clear to Chikoro.

“Are you talking about your girlfriend?” Kyle asked. “The one the rat mentioned? I really don’t care if I meet her or not.”

Kevin managed to keep a relatively straight face as he replied, “Good. And, uh, she’s not my girlfriend. Really.” Arceus…

“Whatever,” said Kyle.

*

It could get unnerving, standing in front of a crowd of reporters and other spectators. Even if there were someone else there doing all the talking, for some reason everyone would choose to look at the person standing there awkwardly. But it wasn’t like Kevin was all that interesting, right?

If he had his way, he’d let the Shade have his own one-man show and watch silently from a hidden tree branch. But Chikoro insisted that the public would only buy the speech if Kevin was there confirming each and every sentence he said. So there he was.

The speech itself was almost entirely made of crap. Kyle had announced that both the Shade and Slick had totally made up and become friends, culminating with Slick’s decision to support the Shades in all their endeavours, yadda yadda, stuff like that. Meanwhile, Kevin had stood there nodding, occasionally adding in with “Uh huh” and “Yeah”. Eventually, the spiel came to an end.

“So that’s that,” concluded Kyle. “Any questions?”

There were about a hundred questions, from the looks of the scuffle that immediately broke out. Kyle seemed to be used to it, though, as he pointed to one of them casually.

“Yes, what brought Slick to change his mind about the Shades?” asked a young woman.

Kyle turned to Kevin. Well, great.

Kevin faked a smile and pat his brother on the back. “Well, you know, I wasn’t really all that mad at him. It was a family argument thing, and all that.”

“So he didn’t threaten you, then?”

Kevin grimaced. “I love your reputation,” he muttered.

Shrugging his brother’s hand off, he replied, “Deal with it. I do. Anything else?”

There were only a few more anxious reporters after that. One woman bustled to the front, shoving her microphone into Kyle’s face. “Yes! Mr. Shade, what does this mean for the future of Sinnoh? Has Slick joined the Shades? Are you planning anything else like this?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “No, Slick is not joining the Shades.”

“Oh, why not?” asked the reporter.

“Because he’s not,” Kyle said, glaring at her. “And don’t bother asking any of the Shades why, because we’re not publicizing that information. And as for planning future events—”

“You’ll have to wait and see, ‘cause my uncle here is going on a little vacation for a week or two,” Kevin added.

The reporter opened her mouth to speak, but Kyle said, “I’m not telling you where, either!”

“So that’s all,” Kevin said. “You can go home now.”

He knew they probably weren’t going to leave so quickly, so he turned around and dragged Kyle along with him. He hoped nobody would follow them, but he couldn’t be sure, so they began to walk back to the Shades’ Headquarters.

Along the way, the two of them didn’t talk much. They didn’t need to; things seemed to be going according to plan. They’d left Stella at the clearing, hoping the media would turn to her for details on the vacation spot. It was a bit of a gamble, but, as Stella assured them, Roxy, the reporter who was always interviewing Kyle (and the one who had just shoved her microphone in his face) apparently had an information giving deal with her. Kyle wasn’t too thrilled when she mentioned that, but he supposed it would be the best way to get “confidential” information to the media, and then Chuno.

Longing for some way to break the silence, Kevin decided to try and strike up a conversation. “Hey, why don’t you want me to join the Shades?”

Kyle scoffed. “The Shades don’t suit you. We’re activists. That requires the ability to form a persuasive argument. You can’t even write your name.”

“For your information, I can too. Er, well, I can write “Slick” now, but… Like you’re good at it! When have you ever written anything?” he retorted.

“Loads of times, you moron. Nobody would take me seriously if I were like you. Anyway, maybe when you actually grow up a bit, I’ll consider it, but for now, no.” Well, fine.

There was nothing else spoken between them for the remainder of the walk. It wasn’t that Kevin couldn’t think of anything else to talk about, but he just found it difficult to have a decent conversation with his brother that didn’t end in Kyle insulting him, subtly or not. So, it stayed silent, the journey being eerily quiet with nothing but the sound of their footsteps, but even then, that was muffled by the grass.

Eventually, they made it back to the base, where Chikoro was waiting. As they stepped into the underground room, the Chikorita cleared his throat. He then hopped onto the old leather couch and sat down.

“Well, then, I already called Pidgeot Express for us. Are we all good to go?” he asked, flipping his leaf.

“Hold on,” said Kyle. “You called the Pidgeot Express?”

“Yeah,” said Chikoro. “So?”

Kyle frowned. “What did you say?”

“I said that the Shade and a couple of his friends need a flight to Twinleaf, stat. I told them to get here as fast as possible,” he said. “That’s what Stella told me to say.”

“Damn it,” the Shade said, grimacing. “That means they’ll send… Gah!” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Whatever. Thanks, kid.”

Chikoro shrugged. “No prob. Shall we, then?” He gestured to the exit. Nodding, Kyle proceeded up through the tunnel once again, with Kevin and Chikoro behind him.

Back outside, there was already a Pidgeot waiting. Though, as Kevin noticed, he wasn’t a light tan with yellow and red plumage, but entirely gold. He was clicking his beak impatiently, and seemed unable to sit still. As soon as he saw Kyle, he spread his wings wide and trilled. “Mr. Shade, hello! Isn’t it such a beautiful afternoon?”

“Fabian,” said Kyle, flatly. "Hi. Look, I need you to fly as fast as you can to Twinleaf, so cut the small talk, okay?"  
   
The golden bird shrugged his feathers, sighing. “Oh, Mr. Shade, you know I'm the fastest Pidgeot the world's ever seen! A little talking won't slow us down at all! And besides, there's so much to talk about!”  
   
Kevin scoffed. “I agree, _Mr. Shade_ , what's wrong with a little conversation to pass the time?”  
   
“Believe me, Kevin, talking to this guy is the last thing you want to do, ever,” Kyle said, his voice assertive.   
   
“You could spare to be a little more social, Mr. Shade,” mused Fabian before ruffling his feathers. “Well, if you insist, I'll take your nephew with me and you can fly on Sandra... Who should be getting here soon, I don't think I outsped her too much.”  
   
Kyle agreed without hesitation. “Good. Kev, you and the kid go on ahead, all right?”

Seeing nothing wrong with this, Kevin agreed and awkwardly climbed onto the back of the bird that would be taking him and Chikoro to the southern end of the region. He helped Chikoro up as well, though he only did so because the Chikorita had no arms.

“All righty! Prepare for take off!” shouted Fabian. He crouched, shot the sky a keen glare, then, like a bullet, flapped his wings once, suddenly taking the three of them about five feet in the air. In another instant, they were moving at a near breakneck speed over the treetops, faster than Kevin had ever gone.

Chikoro, who was obviously not expecting such speeds, nearly fell off. “Holy— Dude! How fast are we going, here?”

“Mach Two,” Fabian sang. “I’m the fastest Pidgeot who ever lived! With these golden feathers, I can achieve Godspeed!” Well, somebody seemed to be full of himself.

“Um, if you say so,” said Chikoro, unconvinced.

The Pidgeot laughed. “Well then. Kevin, was it?” Kevin blinked, unused to anyone but Kari and Kyle calling him by his actual name. “So Mr. Shade’s your uncle? Somehow I doubt that.”

Not knowing what to say, Kevin muttered, “Uh… Why?”

“Because I distinctly remember Ms. Glacée telling me that this so called ‘Kevin’ you claim to be was Mr. Shade’s brother. Now, before you get all paranoid, it’s her that leaks all the info, not me. I’m just curious; which one is it?” Maybe this was why Kyle didn’t like Fabian.

Kevin frowned. “And if I don’t answer?” he asked.

“They’re brothers,” said Chikoro.

“Gah! Why does everyone keep doing that?” Kevin said indignantly, punching the Chikorita lightly on the head. “You and Kari just can’t keep stuff secret, can you?”

Fabian seemed amused. “No worries, no worries. For whatever reason, you don’t want anyone to know, so I won’t tell a soul,” He beat his wings, something he hadn’t done since they’d lifted off. “Though I am wondering what this whole ‘vacation’ story is about. Of course, if that’s confidential, you don’t have to say.”

“Good, then we won’t,” said Chikoro.

Kevin hit him again. “What is your problem? You could at least be consistent!”

Wincing, Chikoro glared at Kevin. “I am being consistent! There’s no reason to cover up the fact you and the Shade are brothers. But we do want to stick with the vacation. Nothing our little angel already knows is dangerous.”

Kevin stared at him. “Wait, so you think—” He remembered Fabian was in their presence. “Um, you think _he_ knows we’re brothers?”

“I think there’s nothing denying it. Did he ever actually call you ‘Shady’s nephew’ or something like that?” Chikoro asked.

“No,” Kevin said, “just, you know, ‘Boy’ and stuff.”

Chikoro’s expression darkened. “Hmm. Don’t forget he knew your name, too. I think it’s a pretty good theory.”

Kevin shuddered. “I guess,” he muttered, feeling sick as he remembered the rat’s intentions to crush Kari’s skull. Then, with a start, he realized Kari and Kyle were going to have a reunion very, very soon. “Oh, crap.”

“What?” asked the Chikorita.

“Um…” He was so screwed. “Hey, Fabian, how much time do you think we have on Kyle?”

The bird flapped his wings majestically. “I’d say we’ll arrive approximately ten minutes before Mr. Shade. That is, unless Sandra’s been practicing and catches up sooner.”

That meant ten minutes to find Kari and get her out of there before Kyle got to Twinleaf. That was going to be a challenge.

“Uh, thanks,” said Kevin.

“What’s crap, though? Slickky!” whined Chikoro. He seemed to get childish whenever he couldn’t somehow deduce something.

Kevin sighed. “You know what.”

“Huh? Oh…” said Chikoro in understanding. “You know, you should tell her he’s coming too.”

“ _No_ ,” said Kevin.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it sounds interesting,” Fabian cooed.

“It’s _not_ ,” Kevin assured.

Chikoro rolled his eyes. “Says you.”

“Yeah, says me. Now shut up.”

The grass type obeyed him, surprisingly, and there was no more chatter for the rest of the trip. Even though silence was what he wanted, Kevin found it hard to think. And that was bad, considering concentrating on coming up with a plan to keep Kari away from his brother was the most useful thing to do as of that moment. But no. Kevin cursed his lack of self-discipline as the group began descending towards the tiny houses in the quaint town of Twinleaf.

As soon as they landed, Kevin hopped off Fabian and went straight up to what he assumed to be Lana’s house. Impatiently, he stepped up to the front door and jabbed his finger onto the doorbell, not bothering to wait for Chikoro to follow.

An old woman answered the door, looking curiously at him. “Can I help you?” she asked, her voice making her sound like she was about to crumble into dust.

“Uh…” Kevin said. He glanced behind the woman, only to see nobody else behind her. In fact, the interior looked practically untouched. It was clear that she was the only one living there. “Wrong house, sorry,” he said before pivoting on his foot and shuffling away.

Chikoro, who had successfully dismounted, smirked at him. “Moron, do you really think it’s smart to try and get to Lana’s without the house number?”

Kevin glared. “Nobody told me what it was! Fabian just dropped us off here, so—”

“Hey, hey, they just told me Twinleaf Town, so I brought you here. You never said anything about a house number,” The Pidgeot said, ruffling his feathers.

“It’s number twenty-six,” Chikoro said, “and I was planning to tell you that as soon as we arrived, but you just charged off like a Tauros,” He grinned. “It’s hilarious how dumb you are.”

“Screw you,” he muttered. “Anyway, we should really get to that house,” he nodded to Fabian. “Thanks for flying us.”

The Pidgeot bowed. “Anything for the little brother of the Shade! Until we meet again!” Then, quite suddenly, he beat his wings and was off to the skies once more.

Kevin blinked. “Little brother? …Guh. Let’s just find the house,” Kevin said, unimpressed. Chikoro agreed. Within a few minutes of combing the relatively barren streets of the town, the pair of them discovered the small house and were welcomed inside.

Hardly bothering with any sort of reunion, (after all, it had only been a few days) Kevin made his way to the back door, figuring Kari was probably in the backyard, since she wouldn’t exactly fit in the house all too well. He was right; there she was, decidedly bored amongst the many deceased plants in the garden.

Upon hearing the door open, the Torterra looked up. Seeing Kevin, her eyes widened. “Back already?” she asked. Her voice was croaky. Not that it hadn’t sounded like that before, but she still sounded sick.

“Um… Yeah,” Kevin said. His memory instantly became a blank as he tried to remember why he was there.

Kari seemed confused. “Kevin, did you even… I mean, have you…?”

“I… I need to talk to you,” he blurted out. Yeah… Yeah, he did need to do that. Probably.

“Okay,” Kari said, frowning. “What about?”

Damn, what was it again? It was… Kyle. Oh yeah, that. “About K—”

He heard the door open behind him. “Hey, Kevin, the kid said you went back here, are you—” the speaker faltered. Oh, of course he would… Kyle always had to go and ruin everything…

Kevin watched Kari’s expression turn from thoughtful to stunned in a heartbeat. He imagined that his and his brother’s faces both looked the same. Kyle’s more so, though… He probably should have mentioned something before. But he didn’t.

The moment of nothingness seemed to last forever. Come to think of it, it was much like being in a Pokéball. There was no telling how much time passed in one of those.

Finally, somebody broke the silence.

“I hate you.”

What a lovely day this was turning out to be.


	38. Chapter 38

“Don’t say that—”

“If I didn’t, that would make me a liar. Like _you_. I hate you.”

The exchange the two were having barely registered in Kevin’s brain. In fact, it took a minute to realize what they were even talking about.

“Kari… I’ve _never_ lied to you—”

“You said you’d come back! You didn’t! That makes you a liar!” Kari’s voice cracked painfully, and she let out a sob. Kevin stared at her still, watching a tear slide down her face. It was like he was watching a movie; neither Kari nor Kyle seemed to notice or care that he was there.

 “I… You told me to go in the first place! I said I’d find a way to get you out of there, eventually! I never actually said I’d come back right away!” said Kyle. Kari looked disgusted.

She growled. “Is that so? If you were so focused on getting me out, why have you been taking it easy as ‘Mr. Shade’ for seven years?”

Kevin heard his brother’s fists clench. “Being the Shade isn’t easy! I became the Shade because of you! And you’re obviously out of the lab, so something I said must have gotten through to Rowan and—”

Kari stomped her foot, sending an Earthquake through the ground. It knocked both brothers over, though she was only looking at Kyle. Walking past Kevin, she marched up to Kyle and leaned in close to his face.

“Are you actually so arrogant that you think you got me out of Rowan’s lab?” she whispered. Her eyes were deadly; worse than Chuno’s. “Said a speech, got on TV, and Rowan, seeing it, had an epiphany and decided to let me go? Is that what you had in mind?”

Before Kyle could get up, she placed a heavy foot on his chest, keeping him down. “Well, let me tell you what really happened, _dear_. A little girl came by the lab one day, and saw me. She thought, ‘Oh, look, it’s another nice little girl I can go on a Pokémon journey with!’. I bit her hand, I glared, I did everything, but she decided I’d be perfect. So I went with her, and I beat a gym for her, and I was the perfect little starter.

“I was ready to forget about you, you know. I figured I’d try not to be depressed as hell, and at least enjoy being somewhat free. So imagine my surprise when the little girl decided to make a trade for a Chimchar, and that Chimchar happened to be calling himself ‘Chump’?

“Can you really imagine what it would be like? To relive the first few weeks with you with your brother? It hurt so much; I just wanted to pretend he was you and live happily ever after. But I couldn’t do that either, because he was incredibly stupid and a jerk to everyone. But I guess you’re like that too, now. I _hate_ you.”

Kevin found the strength to turn around and look at the two of them. In his head, he found himself agreeing with Kari. But at the same time, he was pretty sure that Kyle legitimately cared about her… At the very least, as much as he himself cared about Kari.

It surprised Kevin when he heard Kyle talking, quite calmly. “I’m sorry. It was stupid of me to assume.” He frowned, deep in thought. “But… Listen to me, okay? I care about you. I mean it.”

Did he really think he could say that, and it would be enough?

Kari scoffed. “Like you really do. I can’t trust anything you say any more.”

“I know you can’t. But can you still listen to what I have to say?” One hundred and eighty degrees. On a dime. Kevin had no idea Kyle could be like this.

“Hmm,” Kari said. She varied the pressure on his chest. “There you go again, two-face. You never seemed to be able to stay mad at me. You’d always redirect your anger… Oh, I know,” she said, glancing behind her to look at Kevin. “At him, right? You probably exploded at him when he went over and saw you. And now, after this, you’re going to do it again, because he obviously didn’t tell you he knows me at all.”

Kyle sighed. “Looks like you can still read people like a book,” he remarked, a hint of a laugh in his voice. “So if you’d please let me up, I’d like to tell you some things.”

Amazingly, Kari stepped off of him after a moment of hesitation. Kyle took a deep breath, patting his chest. Oh, right, his injuries…

Kari glared. “So?”

“So,” Kyle shot a glance to his brother. “How long have you known him?”

The Torterra sent a very weak Earthquake through the ground. “You’re the one telling me things. Not the other way around.”

“Well, I think I still deserve to know,” said Kyle. He coughed.

“We can discuss that later. Now, you were saying?”

Kyle stood up, brushing dust off his sweater. “Right,” he said. There was a pause. “Um… What exactly do you want me to say?”

“You don’t even realize how terrible you’re being,” Kari said, rather disgruntled. “Let’s start with the basics, okay? When did you evolve?”

“That’s not— About five minutes after I left,” answered Kyle.

“Mmhmm. And you couldn’t have come back and gotten me out right then, right? I mean, sure, you still would’ve been skinny as hell, but as a fighting type _surely_ you’d be strong enough?” the Torterra asked, an overall air of disappointment hanging above her.

It was at that point that Kevin suddenly realized something. “Wait a minute, what was the escape plan that ended up actually working? I mean, partially, at least.”

The casually arguing couple looked at him in surprise. “Didn’t I mention it?” asked Kari, shutting her eyes in a way that indicated she was straining to remember.

Kyle frowned. “It— It was a pretty stupid plan. The second worst.”

“You have the nerve to say that after it got you out? I thought it was a decent plan, actually, if it hadn’t been for your last second ‘insurance’. What was I thinking, letting you do something like that?” Kari retaliated.

Kevin laughed nervously. “What was it?”

Kyle shrugged. “Um… I set fire to Rowan’s desk, and while everyone was concerned with that, Kari and I tried to make our way out under the floorboards,” he muttered.

Kevin blinked. “Really?”

“Meanwhile, if you hadn’t set the desk on fire, the assistant wouldn’t have gone into the starter room to get everyone out and notice we were missing. And then the fire from the desk wouldn’t have burned through the floor, fallen through, and blocked me from the exit. But you got out, so it’s all good, right?”

“Kari,” said Kyle, exasperation seeping into his voice.

“Dear, I can’t see your actions as justified no matter how I look at them!” she shouted, shaking her head.

“And I can’t see how that plan possibly worked, no matter how I think about it,” Kevin said, though he seemed to have lost their attention once again as they continued bickering.

Kyle folded his arms. “Then why did you tell me to go in the first place, Kari?”

Kari scoffed. “It’s what you say when you’re in a situation like that! You weren’t supposed to listen to me!”

“Oh, really?” asked Kyle. “Because any other time I didn’t listen to you, you’d yell at me. So then, at that moment, I was supposed to know you _didn’t_ want me to listen to you?”

“Yes! You were supposed to either get both of us out, or neither of us!” Kari said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well I’m sorry if I wasn’t noble enough,” Kyle spat bitterly. “This isn’t some fairy tale, you know.”

“I’m fully aware of that,” Kari said, her breath sharp. “It seems we’re just too different.”

“Guess so,” Kyle said. He frowned. “Kevin, I think it’s best if we leave her alone.”

Surprised, Kevin said, “Huh? But—”

“Come on,” Kyle grabbed his brother by the arm, pulling him inside the small house and leaving the turtle behind.

Inside, quite a few members of Lana’s team were staring at Kyle. Kevin frowned; no doubt they’d heard some of the shouting from inside. Kyle ignored them, proceeding out the front door and only stopping at the edge of the front yard.

He let go of Kevin’s arm and sighed. “Well. I think that could have gone better.”

“Are you kidding?” Kevin asked, scoffing, although he didn’t really find it that funny. “I thought that went brilliantly considering everything you said.”

Kyle glared. “What?”

“Kyle, she gets more pissed at me for being an idiot! She didn’t even cry! You, on the other hand, were a complete ass and you know it,” Kevin narrowed his eyes.

Glancing off to the side, the Shade replied, “Kari doesn’t cry—”

“Maybe not in front of you,” Kevin said darkly.

That seemed to catch Kyle off guard. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “When did you meet her?”

Kevin crossed his arms. “October twenty-second,” he replied.

“Hmm,” Kyle muttered. After a moment, he spoke again. “You two don’t seem like the type that would get along, especially in only a few months.”

Kevin shrugged. “I hated Kari at first. But then we decided it would be beneficial if we sucked it up and worked together. And, um…” Kevin blinked. When exactly had Kari become his friend? He thought back. Probably just before Iron Island. But that was a bit personal. “Well, we battled together for a few days, and then after that we were just kind of friends.”

“And what exactly were you working together on?” Kyle asked. His tone wasn’t all that friendly.

“Getting to the Battle Frontier,” Kevin answered.

Kyle’s hands ignited. “And she never once mentioned, you know, that I was the Shade? You obviously knew about Rowan’s lab and everything. She didn’t think to mention at all that she was stuck there with me?”

“She thought I knew it was you…” Kevin muttered. “At least, for a while. I think she wanted me to figure it out on my own.”

“More like she wanted to piss me off,” the Shade said, staring at the fire that enveloped his hands. “Why the hell didn’t she go to the Battle Frontier with you? I mean… Wouldn’t she…?”

“Yeah, she wanted to,” Kevin answered quickly, though he wasn’t sure exactly why he felt the need to. “But she got sick. Still is. She was doing a pretty good job of hiding it, though.”

Kyle grimaced, though his hands ceased to burn. “…Oh?”

“Yeah. She’s got this thing called Pokérus,” Kevin said.

Kyle looked at his feet. “I suppose she only shared that with you, too?”

“I—”

“Whatever. I’m going to go talk to her again,” Kyle said, stalking off. When he got to the front door, he turned around, pointing. “And don’t follow me!”

Kevin wasn’t planning to. Considering how he’d been practically ignored the first go around, he didn’t feel particularly inclined to watch part two of Kyle and Kari arguing forever. He sighed, leaning on a little white picket fence post.

He thought back to everything Kari had said to him about the Shade. She had told him they were incredibly alike. And at first, Kevin couldn’t see what she was talking about. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. And… It was kind of creeping him out a little.

He had never really taken the time to get to know his brother that much during their childhood years. To Kevin, Kyle was just a stick-legged nuisance whose only reason for existing was to make life harder for his older brother. Yet, Kevin felt that given a chance, he and his brother could have become close, much like his father and his uncle had been, really.

After all, they both came from the same family and dealt with the same issues. They were close in age and what one lacked, the other had – Kyle was the smarter, more bookish of the two, if his skills as the Shade were any indication, whereas Kevin was more physically inclined. Why he’d decided to bully his brother instead, Kevin had no idea.

And now, leaning on the fence line, Kevin was feeling guilty. Things could have gone so much differently, had he just refrained from being a jerk and helped his brother get through life together. But then, Kevin likely wouldn’t have left, meaning neither of them would ever meet Kari, and meeting Kari was the one thing that had made Kevin not a jerk, in his opinion, at least, so—

“You look like you just did something bad,” said a voice. Kevin turned, surprised. Chikoro. Of course.

“I didn’t hear you come out,” said Kevin. That was true; he’d been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even noticed the door open.

Chikoro snickered. “So? What’s with the guilty face? You can’t possibly think that the mini-explosion in the backyard is your fault, can you?”

Kevin glanced behind him to the backyard, where faint, yet furious shouts were audible. “It’s my fault he met her, at the very least,” he muttered.

“Yeah, but you didn’t give him the crazy genes, your dad did,” the grass type chirped. “Seriously, all this and they can’t even have kids. At least you’ve got a bit of sense, right?”

“…Right,” muttered Kevin.

Chikoro smiled for another split second before instantly changing it to an expression that looked more offended than anything. “ _Right_?”

Kevin said nothing, his frown becoming deeper with every passing second.

“Aw, hell!” Chikoro blurted.

“That’s what I said,” Kevin replied, rubbing one of his temples.

The Chikorita shook his head. “But you— _You can’t have kids_ ,” Chikoro stressed.

“It’s not like I think she’s pretty or anything!” Kevin said angrily. “Because I don’t! At all! It’s just… She gets inside my head, you know? And whenever I think back, to before… I don’t know, it’s like I’m this horribly shallow person with an ego the size of Hoenn, but I’m _different_ now…”

Chikoro retained his horrified expression. “But that— That doesn’t mean— Why can’t you just be friends? That sounds like friendship! Platonic friendship!”

“Well…”

The Chikorita stomped the ground. “No! Relationships don’t form because of stuff like that! They form by, like, falling on top of each other and all those dumb things!”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “You need your head examined,” he said.

Chikoro growled. “This makes no sense!”

“Chikoro, how old are you again?” Kevin asked.

“I’m nine,” he replied, pouting.

“Right, it’s hard to remember sometimes,” Kevin cracked a smile. “Anyway, you can be pretty smart about some things, but I think you should wait until you’re a bit older before talking about relationships.”

The Chikorita stood defeated. “Fine. I still don’t get why you can’t just be friends,” he said.

“Oh please. I doubt we’ll even get close to… getting closer,” Kevin finished.

“You sound like such a dork,” said Chikoro.

“Shut up.”

_“No, no, go on, I’m interested.”_

Bobbling ears, dark brown eyes, and a Cheshire grin filled with large teeth. How could Kevin have not seen it coming?

Chuno the Naturalist was here at last.


	39. Chapter 39

“Uh—” Kevin’s mind was a blank. This was all according to plan, right? What was the plan, again? For what reason had they drawn the rat himself out to a tiny little town in the sticks, anyway?

He glanced at Chikoro, who was trying his best to hold his head up high. Right, they were going to “make their move”, whatever that was supposed to mean.

 _“You were talking about Shady’s sweetheart, right? Oh, how cute! I wonder what Shady will say when he finds out you want to take her away from him?”_ The voice, once laden with whimsy and friendliness, was now simply an icy drawl that betrayed any false happiness in the speaker’s face. The cloak and fedora, which were previously comical accessories, now seemed to give the Raichu just the impression he needed.

Kevin narrowed his eyes. “What’s the point of spinning the truth into lies if nobody believes a word you say?” he asked.

 _“Mm,”_ Chuno said, shrugging. _“I guess it just comes to me, naturally.”_

“Nothing about you is natural,” spat Chikoro, a move that surprised Kevin. “You’re crazy.” He was even more surprised when Chuno suddenly grinned.

 _“_ _You may say that I’m crazy, but, hey, who’s better off, really? You? Or me, with a family who loves me and will wait for me to come home?”_ He giggled. _“Though I suppose there’s no need to ask that when I can see the answer right in front of me.”_

Kevin blinked, his gaze slowly focusing on the Chikorita. Chikoro had frozen in place, not even breathing, with a look of pure terror in his eyes.

“H-how…?” he managed to spit out, finally starting to shake.

 _“Oh, you don’t think I simply ignored you, when I saw you’d joined forces with the demon trio, did you? I got my allies to look into your background as well. In fact,”_ Chuno smiled wickedly, _“I even met with your mother. Would you like to hear that story?”_

Chuno went on without waiting for an answer. _“Yes, I had your mother flown in all the way from Johto. We had a very interesting discussion! When I asked your mother about you, they didn’t even know who I was talking about! It’s not every day you have to remind a parent who their child is, is it?”_

Kevin turned to Chikoro, part of him curious about what Chuno was going on about and the other part feeling the deepest sympathies for the kid. Chikoro himself was shaking his head, his face scrunched up as if he was in pain.

“Stop. Just stop,” he whined.

Chuno continued _. “Your mother, they call themselves Charmy,”_ he mused. _“And, you know, I say ‘they’ because I’m really not sure what else I can use. Your mother told me they fathered several children as well. Why, think! You must have dozens and dozens of half siblings! It’s really incredible!”_

Highly disturbed, Kevin took a step backwards.

 _“Your mother said they remember your father, though,”_ said Chuno. _“A pretty boy Meganium who’d been left at the daycare on a whim. Said he was one of the easiest they’d ever met; of course, he had to be, to be played by a Ditto—”_

“That’s enough.”

Kevin turned around. At the back gate of the house was Kari, her face horribly contorted with anger. Behind her was Kyle, looking thoroughly confused but nonetheless, also angry.

The Torterra made her way towards Chuno. “Torturing an innocent child just because he’s a friend of ours. Your morals must not exist.” She eyed Chikoro softly. “And don’t cry about it, honey. There’s no shame in having a Ditto for a parent.”

 _“Oh Miss Kari, you have more wires crossed every time we meet,”_ Chuno sighed.

“And your voice gets more disgusting every time I hear it,” she said, frowning in disdain. “To think, it once sounded sweet enough that you tricked your way into the Shades. I’m just glad that everyone can see through your charade now. You’re horrible.”

Chuno laughed, his voice echoing throughout the neighbourhood. _“Ha! Of all the people to be my greatest enemy, somehow, I’m glad it’s someone like you!”_ He shook his head. _“The human who donned the Pokémon’s body. You’re just like the one from that old tale.”_

Kevin noticed Kyle’s eyebrow twitch. It only took the Shade a moment before he blurted out, “Old tale, huh? Well if you’ve heard that one, you must have heard the one that comes after it,” he said, his teeth clenched.

The Raichu frowned. _“Do you mean to say the nonsense one about Pokémon and humans eating at the same table? Nobody believes in that one.”_ Though, as he said it, Kevin could almost see something in the Raichu snap.

Kyle glared. “‘It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two.’ That’s the very last line. You can look it up – Canalave City Library, second floor. _Sinnoh Folk Tales_. It’s in a blue bookshelf. I would know; I stayed there for a bit, before I became the Shade,” His hands balled into fists. “It happened once before. Why can’t it be that way again?”

Kevin watched his brother. Their father had recounted the tale, line by line, maybe about a hundred times before he’d left them all those years ago. He had no idea that old story was written down at all, much less in a human’s library. But their father was from Kanto, not Sinnoh, and the way he told the story, he had always mentioned humans and Pokémon getting married…

“Of course, that’s this region’s version,” Kyle added. “It’s aged differently in other places. Some lines are different.”

 _“You do realize it’s called a folk tale for a reason, right?”_ asked Chuno, his eyes half closed and uninterested.

“Well, yes, it’s a folk tale, and nobody really knows the real version,” said Kyle. “But in the end, that last line stays the same throughout. The message stays the same. And I think there must be some truth to that, don’t you?”

The Raichu shrugged. _“Well, maybe.”_

“Maybe?” Kyle looked affronted.

 _“Well, I’m not a historian, of course. But I don’t recall any mention of something like that being in recorded history. And I can assure you, that stupid little story of yours hasn’t been passed down through my family. I only know about it because you wouldn’t stop going on about it in your very first speech. I mean, really.”_ Chuno pouted slightly, adjusting his hat.

Hold on. Kevin shot a look at his brother, checking his face to make sure he was serious. That was what Kyle was basing his arguments off of? A picture book?  How did anyone ever take him seriously…?

“I am absolutely positive there is truth to the story. I believe it really was like that, long ago,” Kyle said.

 _“But the entire point of history, Shady, is to learn from our mistakes,”_ Chuno said, voicing it in the same way one would address a toddler.

“Who said it was a mistake?”

Of all the people to have said it, of all the people… Well, it was the most fitting, if unexpected. Kevin didn’t know if the surprise he experienced as he and everyone else whipped their heads around was a good thing, but at the same time, he was somehow glad to see what he saw.

Leaning on a fencepost with one arm slung over his shoulder, briefcase in hand, was a man with brown hair in a white coat. His brow was furrowed in a mixture of curiosity and discontent, and his glasses lay across his nose slightly askew. He looked out of place in the rural town, though at the same time, he seemed to fit right in, as if he’d been in one his whole life.

But of course, nobody was taking the time to notice any of that.

Chuno, for once in his life, seemed to be at a loss for words. He stuttered, his voice so incoherent that the language he was speaking in was anyone’s guess. His eyes, however, were able to communicate his intentions just fine – the dagger-look had returned.

“I’ll admit getting married may be taking it a little too far. But tolerating each other, and respecting each other, that’s what this is really about.”

The man stepped forward, stopping a few feet away from the group and placing his briefcase at his feet. His hands then found their way to his pockets, as if what he was doing was the most natural thing in the world.

Finally finding his voice, the Raichu chuckled. _“Ah, Jack Holly, I presume? What wonderful timing you have. It’s almost as if Shady planned this!”_

The man shook his head. “They had no idea I was coming here. And I’m not Jack.”

Kari suddenly perked her head up, seemingly understanding it all within a second. Chuno was a bit slower on the uptake, his face contorting in surprise once again. The man gave him the tiniest of smiles.

“My name is Cory Holly. I’m the head scientist specializing in Pokémon behaviour at Lilycove City Laboratories.” He glanced to the side down the small street, as if he was checking they were the only ones there. “Though I happen to have a forged degree, and the only reason I’m any good at what I do is because I can just ask the Pokémon for the answers. Jack Holly was my father.”

Nobody said a word. Cory continued.

“I look like a human, I know. I _am_ half human, biologically, somehow. I was born looking like a Pokémon, mostly, though parts of me were off. The way I stood, my teeth, my eyes. And I grew up like that, and then made a machine with some friends that could make me look human. And I used that,” he said. “I ended up looking a lot like my father. Whether it was a matter of programming or genetics, I’ll never know.”

He looked behind himself to see Kevin and Kyle. “I want to have a talk with you two… And you, miss. Is that all right?”

 _“Like hell it is!”_ shouted Chuno, grabbing Cory’s attention once more. _“You can’t just waltz in and interrupt, you demonic freakshow!”_

Cory sighed. He picked up his briefcase, fumbling with the lock to open it. He entered the combination and it popped open, allowing him to reach inside and pull out a shiny purple and white sphere.

“If you don’t leave us alone for this, sir, I’m afraid I’ll have to use this.” A Master Ball sat in the palm of his hand, its glossy sheen sparkling in the winter sunlight.

The Raichu eyed the high grade Pokéball and stepped backwards. If Kevin had to guess, he seemed to be contemplating whether he could dodge Cory’s throw and continue on with what he had planned to do. He seemed to decide against it, however, and tilted his hat to the scientist. _“Very well. I’ll let you be, but just for now.”_ He turned and scampered down the dirt road, tail swishing.

Once Chuno appeared to be well out of earshot, Cory turned back to the others, an apologetic look on his face. “All right. I owe you about a million things right now, but most importantly, I’m sorry.” He placed the Master Ball back in the briefcase. It snapped shut.

“It’ll take more than that,” Kyle said, his voice quiet, but dark.

“A lot more,” Kevin added.

“Most of it an explanation.”

“And maybe a free trip to the Cove Lily Motel,” Kevin said. He saw the look on his brother’s face. “What?”

Kyle was glaring. “Aren’t you the least bit mad at him?”

“I _was_ mad, for a long time. I guess I’m not now,” Kevin replied. In truth, he had no idea why he was reacting the way he was. Maybe it was because his father had managed to make Chuno leave, or it was all okay, since he had gotten back in contact with their mother. Either way, he was feeling strangely serene.

“Boys,” said Cory. The both of them turned. “Is there a place where we can all talk?”

Kari spoke up. “There’s an empty field a few houses down that way,” she said, gesturing to her left. “It’s covered in snow, but that shouldn’t be a problem for a couple of fire types.”

Cory nodded. “That’ll do. Well then, shall we head over there, you three? Oh, and, er…”

The scientist was looking at Chikoro, apparently unsure what to do. Kevin wondered if he recognized him. Kyle took initiative.

“You go inside and wait for us to get back, kid—”

“Hell no!” Chikoro yelled.

Kevin frowned. “Like it or not, Kyle, he knows a hell of a lot already. He’s as wrapped up in all of this as any of us,” he said. Kari agreed, nodding her head.

“He’s right, Kyle,” she said, as softly as she could. It was the first time Kevin had heard her use his brother’s name, and judging by the look on Kyle’s face, it must have been the first time in a long while he’d heard it, too. Kyle barely whispered an agreement before heading off to the left, along the path Kari had indicated.

Kevin followed them, arms crossed. The barely minute long walk didn’t give him enough time to form a coherent thought in his head, let alone think of what he was going to say to his father. He wondered if Kyle was having the same problem, only with his anger getting in the way as well. Kari seemed to be attempting to comfort him through the use of telepathy, or something else that didn’t require contact or talking, judging by the looks she kept giving him, though Kevin would be surprised if Kyle had even noticed her efforts.

When they reached the field, Kyle performed a quick, weak Flamethrower, melting half of the snow. He seemed to think that was enough, as he trudged through the wet, brown grass and stood there, waiting for everyone else to follow. The whole time, his eyes were focused on his feet, never once looking up.

The five of them formed a group in the field. They were all silent for a few moments; Chikoro was staring at the sky, Kyle still at his feet, Cory at Kyle and Kevin and Kari at each other. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Cory spoke again. “Where do you want me to start?”

“Why did you leave us and our mother?” Kyle said immediately, before Cory had even finished. Cory frowned, but nodded.

“I guess that’s as good a place as any. I left because I had to.”

Kyle didn’t believe him. “What made you think you had to leave?”

Cory’s face was laden with regret. “I never had any intention of leaving at all, Kyle, please understand that. I had to leave because when I evolved into an Infernape all those years ago, my body became unstable, and it was killing me. It’s a wonder I even lasted a week in that state.”

The Shade looked up, one eye closed, the other narrowed, giving them the impression of someone who really didn’t give a damn. “What’s that supposed to mean? Your body was unstable? That’s the kind of talk you hear in sci-fi and all that crap.”

“What I mean,” Cory said, stress edging into his voice, “is that I already had a low tolerance to my fire as a Monferno, and evolving didn’t help. My body had gotten used to flames constantly burning on my tail, and when they suddenly moved to my head, my body couldn’t handle it. I was slowly cooking myself to death. You saw what it did – and I think it’s safe to assume that’s the reason neither of you are Infernape, am I correct?”

Kevin nodded. “I didn’t want to risk ending up like you,” he admitted.

Kyle spat out a flame. “I haven’t evolved for a number of reasons. None of them were influenced by you in any way.”

Kevin didn’t know why his brother was being so harsh, especially when he thought back to their previous conversation at his headquarters. He had been so nonchalant there. To see him angry enough to spew flames was rather strange. On top of that, he was most definitely lying. One of the few things they’d ever agreed on as kids was that they wouldn’t risk evolving into their final stages.

Cory didn’t seem to be too affected by his outburst, continuing his explanations on his own. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’m here, then.”

“You heard the news from Stella and came down the instant you could, right?” asked Kyle.

“Who’s Stella?” asked Cory. “A friend of mine told me you were in the area.”

“What friend?” Kevin asked, curious. The only friend of his father’s he knew of was Bill.

 Cory gestured to his left. “He’s a professor over in Sandgem Town. His name is Rowan.”

Kari and Kyle balked at him. Kyle momentarily forgot his act of being uncaring and stared at his father in confusion. “What?!”

“Oh, that’s right, Miss Kari, you were a starter there for a time, yes?” Obviously, Cory was clueless.

“You… You’re _friends_ … with Rowan,” Kyle said, taken aback. “ _Friends_.”

Cory blinked, frowning slightly. “Yeah, he and I go way back. Helped me build the Cell Separation System with Bill, actually. Without him, we’d never have gotten it done.” The scientist straightened his glasses.

Kyle turned to Kari, almost snarling. “Then he freakin’ knew, right? He knew I was the son of his goddamn _friend_ , and he still kept us there. Who the hell does he think he is?”

“Well, maybe he didn’t know…” said Kari weakly.

“Don’t try and rationalize it! Even if he didn’t know, he was friends with a Pokémon who would have acted the same way in the same situation, and he still didn’t let us go. _Freaking_ …” Kyle then trailed off, his language degenerating into nothing more than swears.

“What exactly happened?” Cory asked, concerned.

“You are friends with a sadistic ass,” Kyle answered curtly. “That’s it, I’m done. Kevin, you talk.”

Kevin shrugged. “Uh, ‘kay.” He frowned. Rowan really wasn’t who they should’ve been talking about at the moment. “Back to you leaving, I guess. If you had to leave so badly, then why didn’t you tell us the reason? I mean, if we knew…”

The professor folded his arms, pursing his lips. “I made Sunny promise she wouldn’t tell you, because I thought if you knew, you’d all insist on going with me anyway.”

“Damn right we would,” said Kyle. He then remembered his new vow of silence and appeared to bite his tongue.

“…And that would be bad because?” Kevin asked.

“I lived my childhood with a Pokémon for a mother and a human for a father. The whole time, I felt like I never belonged on either end. I was constantly stuck in some messed up limbo with my brother as my only friend. I couldn’t subject you two to that. Not in a million years.” Cory closed his eyes.

Kyle seemed to be trying very hard to stay quiet. Kevin wondered why he had decided he wasn’t going to speak if it was really that difficult for him, but the thought wasn’t given much time as he replied, “Well, you kind of failed at doing that, then.”

“Hm?” said Cory. “What do you mean?”

Kevin sighed. “We’re kind of messed up anyway, if you couldn’t tell. And as for my brother, I only just began to tolerate him.” A grim frown adorned Kevin’s face.

The scientist frowned. “That’s a shame. You boys are the only ones who can really respect what the other has gone through.”

“That’s true,” said Kari softly. She was frowning herself, looking almost miserable for some reason.

Cory turned his attention to her. “Ah, and you, miss. I’ve heard a few things about you. I understand you’re quite acquainted with both of my sons, yes?”

Kari seemed surprised. “Uh, yes.”

“I see,” said Cory. “The way you speak, you didn’t take the pill I made, right? Which means you must be pretty special yourself.”

A light blush formed on the Torterra’s face. Kevin couldn’t remember ever seeing her embarrassed before. “I don’t know about that,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.

“Nonsense,” said Cory. “If you learned to speak like that on your own time and by your own dedication, you have a certain admirable quality that tells me you’d make a good friend. I’m glad you’re there for my sons.”

Kyle appeared to get even angrier. Kevin could only imagine why. He looked at Kari, then to his father.

“Um… Dad?” Kevin said quietly. His father smiled, obviously happy about Kevin’s word choice. Kevin sighed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… What are you doing here, anyway?”

Cory’s smile dissolved into a frown. “Didn’t I tell you a minute ago? My friend told me you were down here, and I felt that I really needed to see you. It _has_ been a while,” He seemed to have a rather heavy guilt complex. Kevin found himself thinking that it must’ve taken a lot for his father to even consider leaving.

“So, you didn’t know about Chuno or anything?” Kevin asked.

“Well, I’ve certainly heard of him,” Cory said. “He’s an interesting sort. Obviously I don’t agree with him, but I can see where he’s coming from.” He shrugged. “I didn’t expect him to be here with you, though. What was he doing?”

“Er...” Kevin muttered. Honestly, he could barely remember what they were supposed to do when Chuno showed up.

“We were gonna get rid of him,” said Chikoro. Kevin was surprised; he didn’t expect the Chikorita to say much, and he hadn’t at all until now. Cory gave him a curious glance.

“Get rid of him? In what sense?” The professor frowned. “I’d hardly consider any of you the type that resorts to killing people, not to mention that that would be incredibly stupid of you.” Oh great, now he was mad. Just what they needed.

Kyle glared. “Okay, look. I don’t condone murder or anything, but you’ve got to understand that this rat has been trying to kill me for years, and I’ve had enough—”

“So you’re going to stoop to his level and do the same thing? Kyle, you know better than that,” Cory berated him.

“It’s not just me!” Kyle yelled. “He wants to kill Kari, too! And I swear on my life that I’ll stop him before he even tries.” Now, more than ever, Kyle looked serious. He really did care about Kari, probably more than anything else. But at the same time…

“He already tried,” said Kari, her voice low. Her eyes weren’t looking at anyone, instead to the side.

Right, Kevin remembered that. The skull-crushing episode. That Machoke would have killed her if he hadn’t gotten himself disqualified. He suddenly remembered talking to Chikoro after the fight.

_“Well, what if you had to fight, instead?” Kevin thought for a moment before replying._

_“I’d be dead.”_

Had Chuno foreseen that? That way, no matter what Kevin had decided, the rat would’ve been able to attempt to kill at least one of them. He swore in his mind. This was getting pretty bad.

Kevin hadn’t noticed, but while he had been thinking Kyle had been freaking out. His brother was yelling frantically at Kari, panic-stricken.

“What do you mean, he already tried? When would he have— Kari, what did he do?!”

“It— It was at the league. I was battling that Machoke guy that follows Chuno and—”

“You were battling at the league? Why would you be— Wait. Kevin!” Kyle sent his brother a glare. “Don’t tell me you made Kari battle for you against that psycho!”

Kevin glared back. “Hell no! I never made her do anything! I had no idea that Chuno was going to ask that guy to do something like that, and if I did, I never would have agreed to battle him in the first place!” Why did Kyle have to automatically go and assume the worst of him, anyway? He wasn’t _that_ stupid.

“She could have died, and it would have been your fault!”

“Don’t think I don’t know that!”

“Shut up!” said Kari, her expression pained. “It was my fault for not taking Chuno seriously, okay? And I’m fine, aside from being sick, so everything’s okay. Got it?” she turned her gaze to Kyle, who clenched his fists in frustration.

“Kari—” Kyle started, but then faltered. He gave out a large sigh and turned around. “I can’t take much more of this. I’m going to go.” And with that, he began to walk away.

The rest of them didn’t follow. They watched his retreating back, trudging through the winter snow, his inner turmoil clear for anyone to see.

It was going to be a long, long night.


	40. Chapter 40

“So… Computer storage, huh?”

Kevin was staring at the starry sky leaning once again on the white picket fence, eyeing all the constellations. He couldn’t remember the names of all the ones he could make out, but he knew a few. The Gardevoir one he had previously stared at several nights ago was the most prominent one. He was pretty sure the one with the Machoke was up there too, though, and that soured his observations a bit.

His father was outside with him, doing the same thing. For the past couple of hours, they’d been catching up with each other. Cory told his son a bit about his work as a researcher of Pokémon behaviour, which hadn’t been quite as important ever since his pill had become widespread. And now Kevin was telling Cory all about being missing for ten years.

“Yep,” said Kevin, not really knowing how to elaborate. There wasn’t much to say about his time in storage, seeing as he didn’t remember anything but blackness.

Cory smirked. “Figures you’d have the horrid luck to wind up inside a glitchy Pokéball. I was sure they sent out a recall once Bill figured out something was up, though.”

“They did. Whoever caught me just didn’t remember… or care,” Kevin said. Whoever caught him… Even now, Kevin didn’t know the identity of the person who had done a great part in messing up the lives of everyone he knew. He doubted he’d ever find out.

“Mm,” Cory muttered. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Kevin. I can’t imagine how much pain that’s put you through, especially combined with all the standard fare of being a Holly.”

Kevin frowned, slumping casually. “What exactly would you call standard fare?”

His father shrugged. “People staring at you, noticing there’s something wrong. Heck, even in a human’s body I get it all the time,” he said, seemingly reminiscing about something.

“That so?” asked Kevin. Chikoro had mentioned something about his father giving him an apprehensive feeling, right? Maybe that’s what he meant.

“Oh yeah. Day one at the lab, I filled up a food bowl for a Walrein. It took him two seconds to figure out I wasn’t a real human,” Cory chuckled. “Most of the other Pokémon tricked me into talking to them and stuff. And I got some flak with my boss about the family picture I have on my desk one time. That one was a little hard to get out of.”

“Family picture?”

“Oh, you probably don’t remember it. We took one right after Kyle was born. It was one of the last photos we got before the camera finally broke,” Cory mused. He frowned. “Times were a lot better back then, huh?”

That was an understatement. Kevin nodded in agreement, not really coming up with anything to say. Which was odd, seeing as it was the first time in years he had seen his dad and there should have been plenty of things to elaborate on, even with the enormous conversation they’d had. It was kind of bothering him. A lot.

“So,” his dad said, breaking the silence. “That Kari girl. What’s going on with her, anyway?”

Kevin felt a sudden, sinking feeling for no real reason. “What do you mean?”

“Well, she and Kyle seem to have quite the history, from my observations,” said Cory.

Kevin nodded. “…Yeah. They— Today is the first time they’ve seen each other in a really long time. And, uh, they’ve got a lot of unresolved stuff they need to figure out at some point, I guess. And I don’t think your visit simplified any of that.” He didn’t know if he were the right person to describe Kyle and Kari’s past. His guess was leaning towards _no_.

“I can understand that. I’ve always been the one to complicate things,” Cory said with a laugh. “From the minute I was born, that’s all I’ve been. A complication.”

“Really?” asked Kevin, giving his father an aside glance. “Somehow I doubt Mom would agree with you, there.”

Cory smiled. “No, but her relatives certainly would. _And_ nearly everyone else in the world. It’s just part of who I am, really. I’ve learned to accept it.”

Kevin watched the vast whiteness of snow-covered fields in front of him. They were unmoving, their emptiness consuming the tiny town for miles to come. It was strangely captivating.

Cory went on, seemingly talking to himself as much as he was talking to Kevin. “I guess there’s something about living life pessimistically that somehow makes my life better, if that makes any sense. Living without high expectations gives you a pretty good feeling when things actually end up working in your favour. I mean, I went a long time thinking I’d never get married, and then your mother convinced me otherwise. I think I’ve had a pretty decent life, all things considered.”

Something in the emptiness bothered him. Without anything else to vary it, it was just that, empty.

“Of course, I have my regrets, we all do. Leaving you was the worst and hardest thing I ever had to do. I’m sorry… Really…”

It was kind of like a Pokéball, only inverted. The same neutral, empty feeling. He wondered how different it would have been to be imprisoned in a white vacuum instead.

“Um, sorry. I didn’t mean to get worked up about that. I suppose I can’t help it.”

And then, something clicked. In an instant, Kevin knew exactly what he had to do.

“Dad,” he said, still looking at the snow, “that Master Ball. Where’d you get it?”

Cory was startled at the abrupt subject change. “Er, it’s for work. Why?”

“I need to borrow it,” Kevin said, turning to his father. He tried to look as confident as possible; though in truth, Kevin doubted his spur of the moment idea would get him anywhere. But it was the only thing he could do.

Cory frowned. “Borrow it? What do you need it for?” Kevin couldn’t answer that. Not yet, anyway.

“Just trust me, okay? I won’t use it, and I’ll give it back really soon. Please?” He wondered if asking nicely would help him at all.

The scientist seemed flustered, but he gave in. “All right. Don’t break it, or damage it, or anything, okay? These things are expensive.”

He reached for his briefcase at his feet, balancing it in front of him on the fence. After he entered the combination, the case popped open, allowing him to reach in and hand the Master Ball to Kevin.

“Thanks,” Kevin said with a smile. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

And Kevin hopped over the fence, heading past the expanse of snow towards the evergreen trees in the horizon.

*

Chuno was angry.

He had done a number to several of the trees surrounding him in the sparse, wintry woods. Around him lay scores of electrocuted branches, as well as strips of burnt bark and pine needles. In fact, it was probably more accurate to say he was the most furious he’d ever been in his life.

The Naturalist panted, his tail swishing around in a sporadic frenzy. It appeared that it was all he could do to stop himself from doing any more damage to the environment. Kevin just hoped he wouldn’t be skewered before he got the chance to do anything. He took a breath.

“Hey,” he said, stepping out gingerly from behind the confines of a few ruined trees.

The Raichu jolted, his tail instinctively shoving itself into the ground. Getting rid of excess electricity, probably. Otherwise, a shock would probably hurt Chuno as much as it did Kevin.

Chuno turned, the brim of his hat low on his face. _“Boy. What are you doing here?”_

Kevin gave him a steady glare. “I want to talk.”

The Raichu sighed heavily. _“I don’t.”_

Right. He’d expected that. Kevin pressed the button on the Master Ball in his hand, enlarging it. He then tossed it from side to side in his palms, trying to keep Chuno’s attention. “Well, unfortunately for you, you have to. Otherwise, I’ll use this.”

Chuno raised an eyebrow before giving a dark laugh. _“Ooh, a threat. Et tu? Well, I suppose I have no choice, then.”_ He licked his teeth and turned his body fully towards Kevin.

Kevin took another breath, stopping the ball. Well, this was it. “’It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two.’” This wasn’t going to work…

_“Are you serious, boy? If you’re just going to reiterate what your brother said, then I—”_

“No, listen,” said Kevin hastily, fearing he’d already screwed up beyond repair. “I have a different take on it. I think you might find it interesting.”

Chuno stopped talking and looked at Kevin expectantly.

“I think… I think it’s not as clear-cut as Kyle thinks it is. I think it’s more like— Like Pokémon and humans are just as flawed as each other, in their own ways. And they don’t necessarily have to like each other, or respect each other at all.”

The Raichu looked unimpressed.

“But, of course, that doesn’t mean they should be completely separated… or completely integrated into one society. But how it is now has got to change.”

Kevin hardly had a plan any more. He was just talking, saying things before they’d even registered in his mind.

“I don’t really know how or in what way it should change yet, I’m still working that out. But as I was thinking that, I thought of something my dad said, and it made me realize… There must be someone. Someone you’ve spent the last few years of your life fighting for, to let them live in the world you feel is best for them. I don’t know if that someone is you, or if you care about someone else enough for you to do that, but… That’s what I think.”

He wasn’t even registering his surroundings any more. It was just Kevin and what he had to say.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I _get_ it. You started the Naturalists because you thought Kyle might actually ruin the world you want, or something like that, I guess. So… While everything you’ve done to Kyle is kind of extreme, it’s justified, sort of. And Kari gave him the idea, so I can see why you’re angry with her, too.

“I… I have a request. If it’s not too much… Leave them alone. You don’t have to agree with them, and you don’t even have to be polite or anything. But… I don’t know. I don’t want to see either of them with more scars than they already have. So… Yeah. That’s what I came here to say.”

He had done that in the worst possible way, he knew it. Pleading with a merciless foe? How stupid could he be? Kevin sighed. Awful. Just awful.

Chuno had straightened his stance slightly, enough so that his eyes were almost level with Kevin’s. His mouth curled into a small smile, exposing his large teeth. _“Boy… You really are an idiot, you know that?”_

Kevin frowned. “Yeah… That was stupid.”

 _“You come to me, threatening me with a fate I consider worse than death. Then you tell me I don’t have to respect you. And then, you make a request that I obviously don’t have to follow, seeing as I have no reason to do anything you ask of me. Do you ever plan out what you’re saying?”_ Chuno grinned, lifting his hat.

Kevin said nothing. What the hell had he been thinking? He thought he’d learned that spur of the moment ideas never worked for him, ever. Kari had said as much, he was sure of it.

_“However… Just because I don’t have to respect you doesn’t mean I won’t.”_

Kevin’s head snapped up, looking to the Raichu with confusion.

Chuno stopped grinning, his expression very serious. _“That’s right, Kevin. Believe it or not, I actually do respect you, along with your beliefs. What I don’t respect is your brother’s approach to the idea.”_ He shook his head. _“Because despite everything he says, he has not convinced me that his idea of a perfect world would be better for me, or my family, or Pokémon as a whole. And you’re right, in a sense. I’m taking action against all of you because I believe what he is doing may work out in his favour.”_

Kevin blinked. “So…”

 _“I will follow through with your request so long as you abide by certain conditions. Is that clear?”_ The Raichu’s eyes darkened.

“Y-yes,” said Kevin. “Name them.”

Chuno nodded. He adjusted his hat. _“One. You must never join the Shades or affiliate with them in any way, by your own volition or if you are asked.”_

Kevin nodded, though he wasn’t all too happy with it. He supposed it wasn’t such a big loss, though.

 _“Two,”_ Chuno said, _“you must never start a group of your own touting the beliefs you have just explained to me. That is very important._ ”

All right, that was fine too. Kevin nodded again.

 _“Finally, you must grant me one last visit with your brother before I adopt your promise,”_ he said. _“If that visit results in harm in any way, you cannot hold that against me. Do you understand?”_

Kevin frowned. “What about Kari?”

 _“You cannot hold any harm that may or may not happen to them against me,”_ he repeated.

That… he didn’t like.

Chuckling, the Raichu said, _“You do realize that if you don’t agree to my conditions, the deal is off, and I’m free to harm them whenever I please, right? I won’t accept unless you allow me one last chance to do whatever I want, however I want to do it. So, how about it?”_

Kevin narrowed his eyes. Chuno was manipulating him, he knew that much. Sure, only one attempted murder sounded a lot better than an indefinite number, but at the same time, it would still be an attempted murder. Probably. Chuno hadn’t explicitly said he was going to do anything that bad, but Kevin figured the implications were clear as day.

Chuno grinned. _“Well then. That settles it. I strike at midnight. Until then, farewell!”_

Kevin’s mouth hung open. “Wha— Hey! I didn’t say anything yet!”

 _“But you only have one choice, do you not?”_ Chuno asked, his voice finding its tone of amusement once more. _“Were you really considering the other option?”_

Faced with defeat, Kevin sighed. “Fine. One last time. After that, no more. And that’s final, okay?”

Chuno nodded, tipped his hat, and spun around. _“It’s a done deal! See you at midnight!”_

Kevin watched the Raichu walk further into the snowy forest, leaving footprints in his wake. Just before he’d rounded a corner, however, Chuno turned his head back and said, _“My daughter.”_

Kevin blinked.

_“I’m doing this all for my daughter.”_

And he was gone.

*

When Kevin returned, he handed the Master Ball back to his father, no questions asked. He then proceeded to Lana’s backyard, hoping to speak to Kari about something. He didn’t really care what about, he just wanted her company, or something like that. He didn’t know, he felt kind of weird.

He found her, lying in the snow that glittered slightly from the light of the sky. She looked like she had been through hell today, which was probably true. She had her own problems to deal with; she didn’t need any of theirs to deal with, too.

She greeted him wordlessly by giving him a slight nod, but it was obvious she was tired. He sat next to her, ignoring the temperature of the ground below.

“How are you?” he asked her, almost immediately regretting it. He could see how she felt.

Kari gazed at the back door of the house, her eyes half closed. “Could be better. The Pokérus is kind of being annoying, but otherwise, I guess I’m all right.”

Kevin frowned. “Um… Okay.”

The Torterra scoffed, giving Kevin a casual glance. “All right. What’s wrong with you?”

“What?” Kevin said, glaring. “What makes you think there’s something wrong with me?”

“You’ve never had a good poker face,” Kari answered.

Kevin looked at her blankly. Once again, he’d been defeated. He wondered if he was going to win a verbal battle at some point, ever. Maybe he could still pull out of it…? “Well, what if I don’t want to talk about it?”

“If you didn’t want to talk about it, you wouldn’t have come here and sat down beside me. So, what is it, Kevin?”

Damn. “Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself.”

“That or you’re being as predictable as ever,” Kari scoffed again. “I can’t count the number of times you’ve acted like this since we met. So spill, all right?”

Kevin grimaced. “You’re not going to like it,” he said.

Kari breathed heavily. “And why not?”

“Because I did something stupid again. Kyle’s going to kill me for it, and you probably will too,” he said. He was suddenly feeling even stupider than usual.

“What could you have possibly done that would be that bad, Kevin?” she asked, more curious than anything. She probably thought that anything he could have done wouldn’t be serious at all, and he’d just, oh, offended Chikoro or something harmless like that. Whatever. Frankly, he didn’t care. Nothing like that had happened, anyway. Right. So.

He gulped down a bit of air. “I made a deal with Chuno so that he gets one last chance to murder everybody, and then after that, no more.”

Kari groaned. “And why the hell did you do that?”

“I-I don’t know! I just kind of did, somehow, and you know, I don’t think it’s so bad—” He was cut short.

“It’s a horrible deal! We have no idea what he’s capable of! How can we even trust him to uphold this deal in the first place? _Dear_!” The Torterra gave him a look of disappointment that made Kevin feel very, very sour.

“He— He seemed sincere when he said he’d do it,” Kevin muttered. “I know, I know, we can’t trust him at all. He’s probably just manipulating me like usual, and I’m probably just being an optimistic idiot about everything. But I made a deal, so we’re just going to have to handle whatever consequences come of it, okay? I’m sorry.”

Kari was about to say something, but he continued.

“I just wanted to do something to help. Everyone’s miserable and Chuno is a pretty big reason why, so I figured if I could at least get him out of the picture we’d all be a bit better off, or something. I don’t really know what I’m doing nowadays. All I know is that I want this to end so I can go home and forget there’s anything wrong with me. And I…”

He growled in frustration. “I don’t know! I’m no good at figuring out what I’m trying to say! I usually just say it, and then other people tell me what I meant, and then I realize everything or whatever! And even then, sometimes I don’t get it, and it takes me forever to understand exactly what I feel, and I hate that, and I just… I want to… Want to…”

He stared at her, watching every move her eyes made. “I don’t even know what the hell I want. I guess I thought I’d find out at some point, but even now, I still don’t know.” Damn it.  He’d never felt such a horrible rush of emotion like this. Was this how she…?

Kari’s head suddenly found its way onto his shoulder. It was the most comforting gesture she could manage in her form, he supposed. He felt her tears drip down onto his skin, though he didn’t know why. He was the one who was upset. He found himself petting her head again, less awkwardly this time, though still feeling out of place, if only a little. It was like the day before Iron Island all over again.

He heard her whisper, in a tiny voice that wasn’t like her at all. “I wish I had met you at the lab instead.”

Oh, right.

That was what he wanted. He just wanted to hear her say those words.

If only they weren’t so painful.

…Ha. If only.

They’d be a hell of a lot happier if _what ifs_ came true.


	41. Chapter 41

“What time is it now?”

“Half past ten.”

“So why are we still here? We should be getting the hell away right now, thanks to you, _Slick_. What are we doing sitting around and waiting for that psycho to show up?!”

Kyle was very, very mad, just as Kevin thought he’d be. It was hardly unexpected; hell, if Kyle had gone and made a deal with Chuno, Kevin would be furious too. He was just really tired of pissing his brother off. He did enough of that back when they were kids.

It didn’t help that Kari had suddenly become incredibly moody and didn’t want to speak to either one of them for an indefinite amount of time. Kyle probably blamed him for that, too. So now they were in Lana’s kitchen, having an argument, while the rest of the house’s occupants quietly decided against interfering. There was no doubt in Kevin’s mind that if they did, Kyle would be even angrier.

His brother had already gone and raided the refrigerator, took out the large bottle of apple juice there, and downed its entire contents in the space of five minutes, after all.

“Look,” Kevin tried saying, though it was unlikely anything would get through. “I made a deal. We break the deal, and he’s going to be mad. And we’ve taken him before, haven’t we? Just the other day? I didn’t even get a scratch from that.”

Kyle laughed, his tone making it clear that Kevin was walking on thin ice. “You call that taking him? Kevin, that fight was only a few minutes long because the police showed up. A regular fight with him is at least an hour or two longer than that.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “How can anyone fight for that long?”

His brother frowned and began to twirl the glass he used for his apple juice on the small kitchen table. “Well… A good chunk of it is dodging around. But he’s very good at keeping up and chasing you. Basically, he likes playing with his food.” He stopped the glass.

“I see,” said Kevin.

“Great. So let’s go, then, okay?” Oy vey, who was the hasty one now?

Kevin shook his head. “I’m not running away from this.”

Kyle snorted. “Oh, so you’re playing the hero now? I’m not kidding, Kev. He’ll kill you.”

He _knew_ that. “Kyle, can I ask you something?”

“Mm?” said Kyle, eyes half closed. Okay, now he was just being a jerk.

“How do you usually battle Chuno?” Kevin didn’t get to see much of what was happening on his brother’s end of the fight…

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked. “The same way I battle everyone else, of course. What other way would I use?”

For a moment, Kevin stared, dumbstruck. No way… That was a joke, right? Kyle had to have some other tactics, he was the Shade! The famous, amazing Monferno who some seemed to fear, et cetera et cetera. Even Chikoro would know it was stupid to answer like that!

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kyle snapped.

Oh, Arceus. He was serious. “Kyle, that is the most naïve thing I’ve ever heard you say!” Kevin found himself saying. How was this possible? The other Shades surely would have taught him how to battle _properly_ , right?

Kyle glared. “What? How is that naïve? I beat you by battling the same way I always do, didn’t I?”

“That was a fluke!” Kevin said, banging his fist on the table. “And this proves it! Chicky was right when he said you rely on speed too much, that’s the _only thing_ you do!”

He folded his arms. “That’s not true—”

“Thunder Wave,” Kevin said.

“Huh?”

“That’s what he uses first. Thunder Wave. To cut your speed.” Kevin’s eyes were intent; the gears in his mind turning faster than usual. Oh, it was all so simple!

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, he usually tries that, but I learned how to dodge it, so—”

“Shock Wave,” Kevin cut in, “because it never misses. And Aerial Ace can’t counter it, unlike how it can counter itself. Right?”

Kyle said nothing.

“I’m right. He chases you down with a move that will always hit, and then, when you’re all tired and worn out, that’s when he tries to kill you. It’s the simplest strategy in the book, but it seems to work on you better than anything else. That’s _it_. Arceus, you are so bad at battling!” Kevin laughed a little in spite of himself. He hardly believed it.

The Shade gave him a glare that looked intense enough to light him on fire. “Oh yeah? If I’m so bad at battling, then what’s your idea of a good strategy?”

Kevin grinned, shaking his head. “Earthquake. That’s all we need.”

Looking incredulous, Kyle said, “I doubt something as predictable as that will work at all.”

“Well, obviously we have to do it in a way that will surprise him,” said Kevin, waving a hand. “But I know first hand that one of Kari’s Earthquakes knocks him out in one hit. So if we distract him for a while, and get an opening for her—”

“Absolutely not,” Kyle said sternly. “You are not involving Kari in this.”

“She’s already involved in this whether you like it or not,” said Kevin. “And for your information, Chuno wants to kill her as much as he wants to kill you. Whether she fights with us or sits quietly doesn’t change a thing about that.”

Kyle groaned. “You’re starting to sound exactly like her,” he mumbled.

Pfft. Not really. Kevin just had a better argument this time around. After years and years of being an idiot, he’d finally gained some sense… Or so he thought. He didn’t really know (not that he knew much as of recent), but it almost felt natural to come up with this battle plan.

Maybe he’d just gone and grown up.

Kevin sighed, and looked his brother in the eye. “I know you’re in love with her. And I know you don’t want to see her get hurt. Especially not by Chuno.”

Kyle blinked.

“But you know, she’s not helpless. She’s quite the opposite, actually. I think Kari is the strongest person I’ve ever met.” He grinned. “She can open her own windows now.”

Dropping his gaze, Kyle turned his line of sight to the glass on the table. “…So you’re saying she doesn’t need me?”

“No. I’m saying there’s no need for this whole overprotective thing you’re doing. She’s not a baby. Hell, she’s older than the both of us.” Kevin got up. “I think we both need to remember that,” he said.

He then left the kitchen, feeling pretty strange. Then again, that was all he was feeling lately. Strange.

Hopefully strange was a good thing, for once.

*

It was a quarter past eleven. Nobody was sleeping.

Kevin was currently lounging around in an armchair in the living room. He had been thinking intently about the battle to come when Lana, of all people, let out a small cough and snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to her in surprise; he couldn’t remember the last time they’d exchanged real words. Snowpoint City, maybe? Yeesh.

Staring at the girl in the pink heart shirt, he frowned. “Um, yeah?”

“Um… My mom wants to know when you’ll be out of our house,” she said, her shaking voice betraying her careful, guarded posture. That was weird, she’d been pretty comfortable before. Maybe she was worried he’d be angry or something.

After his thoughts processed her actual question instead of her behaviour, he replied, “Uh, dunno. Soon-ish? Kyle won’t want to stay for long, at least.” He blinked.

Lana tapped her feet on the ground, fidgeting. “Is Kari going with you?”

Um. Kevin wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Maybe. I’d have to ask her.”

Sighing, the girl slumped down into another chair and turned to face the wall. “I bet she’ll say yes. And I can’t do anything about it, can I?”

Whoa, where did this come from? Kevin thought Lana got the fact that there was some pretty serious personal business going on and she shouldn’t be interfering. And yet, here she was, being all dramatic about Kari leaving with him. Why the heck did she care, anyway?

She frowned. “I can tell by the look on your face that you think I’m being a dumb human trainer. Well, I think I have a right to be upset, okay?”

Kevin frowned as well. “And why’s that?” he asked, his liking for the trainer slipping.

“All I wanted was to be a Pokémon trainer! And then I had to go and trade for _you_ ,” she said bitterly. Oh, wow. Now that was just feeding the flames.

“I’m sorry, do you really despise me for some reason? I apologize for being such a _misfortune_ for you—”

“You ruined everything!” she shouted. “You told me I sucked at battles, and made me battle the ‘right’ way. Then you go and take the entire team out for training and leave me behind, ‘cause you’re the better trainer or whatever! And then, when it was time for a gym, you didn’t let me do a thing! The leaders gave the badges to _you_ , not me!”

He narrowed his eyes. “Because we needed to get to the Pokémon League as soon as possible—”

“ _You_ needed to get to the Pokémon League! Those were _my_ Pokémon!” Lana cried, tears falling down her face. “Don’t you understand? You pretty much stole my starter, there’s no way she’ll go on a journey with me now, and then _she_ made me lose my Buneary. And Chikoro hasn’t even talked to me! He thinks _you’re_ his trainer! I hate you!”

Lana was crying hard, her face was red and her eyes were puffy. Clearly, she had held this in for a long time, and only now let it out. And Kevin was feeling like a really big jerk. Every single thing she was saying was true.

Sniffing, Lana glared at him. “I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m going to Kanto,” she said. “And I’m taking the three Pokémon I have left with me. Maybe _I’ll_ actually be able to win my badges this time. When I wake up, I don’t want to see you, your brother, or _her_ ever again, you hear me?”

Kevin couldn’t manage to choke out any words, so instead he did the only thing he could: nod. Lana got up with a huff, turned around, and stomped upstairs, presumably to her bedroom, her black hair swishing behind her. She didn’t once look back.

Kevin did not feel very good after that.

*

Eleven fifty.

Chikoro peered out the living room window, his breath fogging up the glass a little but not impeding his vision. “He’s not here yet.”

Kevin was getting a little antsy. Kari still refused to talk to him, which gave him very little time to share the nearly nonexistent attack strategy he was planning for Chuno with her. Kyle was being a jerk too, and was probably still in the kitchen staring at his stupid cup. The only one who bothered to help him was Chikoro, and the kid wasn’t exactly the greatest at it. All he did was inform him every two seconds about the status outside.

The Chikorita turned his head to face Kevin. “What if he gets cold feet?”

“If he doesn’t show, you mean?” Kevin asked, absentmindedly. He was pacing sporadically, stopping every few seconds to fidget in some other way. He was kind of getting sick of himself, too.

“No, I mean what if the snow freezes his toes. Of course I mean that!” said Chikoro, narrowing his eyes and turning back to his self-appointed lookout duties.

“I doubt that’ll happen. He’s the one who picked the time, after all. I’ll bet he’s counting the seconds.” Kevin himself was looking at the clock more often than ever, and only ten minutes – well, nine now – weren’t even close to enough.

Chikoro sighed. “What do you think he’s going to do to you guys?”

Kevin had no answer for that.

“…Did you think any of this through at all?”

“Just shut up,” snapped Kevin, stopping his pacing for good. He held his head in his hand, trying to reduce the headache that had just materialized from the millions of possibilities. Chuno could do anything, _anything_ , and the rat probably knew it too. It was his last chance, or so he claimed, so he’d most likely go all out. Kevin pictured everything from a single knife in Chuno’s paw to him riding in a tank, decked out with turrets and stuff.

…Which was an incredibly funny image, but Kevin couldn’t bring himself to laugh right now.

“I’m just trying to get a sense of what’s going to happen,” Chikoro said. He flipped his leaf to the other side of his face. “But it sounds to me like this is going to be another talking battle. And I’m sorry to tell you, Slickky, but you can’t talk very well.”

Kevin grunted. “I know, I know, I’m bad at that. But we’re not going to do that, Chicky. I already talked with him about all that stuff. Doing it again would be pointless repetition.”

“But are you _really_ going to fight him?” Chikoro asked.

“Why do you sound so surprised?” Kevin said.

Chikoro slumped. “Because it seems stupid to end this all with a fight. You’ve always been talking and talking, heck, you’ve only battled him for two minutes before. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sit down and debate about everything?”

The kid could just come up with the weirdest stuff to say at the weirdest of times, in Kevin’s opinion. “ _Why_ do you think that will work, Chikoro?”

“I bet you a hundred bucks,” said the Chikorita, “that your brother _never_ asked Chuno to discuss their difference of opinions.”

“Maybe because he’s a psycho?” said Kevin. “Kyle’s hardly a good speaker, either. It may seem like it at first, but the reality is that he’s basing arguments on a freakin’ picture book and Chuno is _pretty damn smart_. Besides, Chuno is the one who initiated this war between him and Kyle, and if he felt it was better to attempt to kill him than to talk, I really doubt talking will work. It hasn’t worked the last few times, at any rate.”

Chikoro frowned. “So you’re going to kill him first.” He didn’t even make it sound like a question.

“Are _you_ not the one who suggested we do that?” This was unbelievable. “Chikoro, he insulted your family, harassed Kari and I, and after all this, are you defending him?”

“No!” shouted Chikoro. “I get that he’s an asshole and a crazy lunatic and homicidal and everything! But Slickky, you guys are too! All I can see is a bunch of crazy people tearing at each others’ throats and I really want to be on your side, because I know you’re probably really good people – but you’re just _insane_!”

Kevin stared at him. “Wha—”

“You’re in love with a reptile who’s ten years older than you, your dad turned into a human, you _are_ part human, your brother wears clothes… Look me in the eye and tell me that all that can be true and you aren’t crazy.” Chikoro’s eyes were wide, and he looked borderline insane himself.

Deciding to grant the Chikorita his wish, since he was perfectly fine thank you very much, Kevin bore his eyes into the nine-year-old’s and said, quite clearly, “All of that is true, and I am not crazy.”

Chikoro shook his head. “And that’s the saddest part. You don’t even realize it.”

“Shut up, kid,” said Kyle. Kevin turned to the small hallway in which his brother stood. He was leaning on the wall, apparently fatigued since he looked nearly asleep. “Everyone can hear you.”

The Chikorita, suddenly embarrassed, let out a cry of surprise. “Uh— Sorry?”

Kyle shook his head. “Just let me talk to my brother. All right?”

Though he didn’t look thrilled with the idea, Chikoro quickly left, scurrying out of the living room as fast as he could. A tired Kyle took his place at the window, but instead of looking out of it, he faced Kevin instead.

Wasting no time, Kyle rested his chin on his hand and frowned. “The kid said you loved Kari.”

Oh for the love of— Of all the things Kyle had to talk about right at that moment, it just had to be that, didn’t it? Kevin couldn’t believe everyone today. They were all bringing up these inane things in conversation that could do well to wait until tomorrow or the next day or whenever they could spare a few minutes. But no. Now was the absolute most important time to take a second and discuss everything Kevin did, and of course everyone had to bring up everything they didn’t like, and—

“You said it was true,” Kyle said.

…Wait. When did he say— Oh. Well.

“Without any hesitation, too. Huh.”

Damn it.

“I guess we have more in common than I thought,” said Kyle.

Damn it to high heaven.

“…Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“No.”

“Wow. That’s just too funny—”

There was a sudden, loud scream, cutting Kyle off and causing both brothers to jump from surprise. Thinking quickly, Kevin looked at the clock.

But of course. It was twelve o’ one.

Kevin ran to the backyard, expecting to see Chuno there holding Kari at gunpoint or something warranting a scream. Kyle followed two steps behind, almost shoving Kevin just to get there quicker. But when they slammed open the screen door and saw nothing but an empty-handed rat, Kevin couldn’t help but feel like Kari was overreacting, if only a little. Chuno didn’t even have his cloak and hat.

“Oh, great. You just had to sneak around through the back, didn’t you?” snarled Kevin, getting an increasing urge to pound the living daylights out of the Naturalist.

Chuno shrugged. _“I knocked.”_

“You did not!” said Kevin.

 _“It’s not my fault you couldn’t hear it over the little brat’s whining. Weren’t you checking the time, anyway?”_ The rat’s voice had gone back to its whimsical tone, though Kevin had a feeling it wouldn’t stay like that for very long.

Kyle pushed his way in front of Kevin and lit his fists on fire. “So what’s it gonna be this time? Have you got another gun? Maybe that Machoke friend of yours?”

Chuno smiled. _“Nope.”_

Kari, who had so far been backed up cautiously, took an assertive tone as well. “Then what the hell are you going to do?”

Smiling to himself, the rat kicked the dirt, as if he were bored _. “Mm. I’ve thought about that for a while. It was pretty hard, coming up with something. This is supposed to be my last stand, right? So I have to go out with a bang. It’s not any fun if I don’t._

_“You two – Shady and Miss Kari, that is – I wanted to make you suffer as much as possible. So I thought and I thought, but nothing I could think of seemed good enough. They all seemed anticlimactic, you could say. It wouldn’t do me justice if I merely shot you, or had Jacques rip you apart. I tried those things in the past, they didn’t work, and they wouldn’t have been personal enough, I guess. At least not for my tastes._

_“They didn’t have rhyme or reason. See, I think death makes its impact most when it’s ironic, and the poor soul is done in by his own doing. And that’s what I want; something that will last, and make everyone who witnesses it to say, ‘Oh, that’s what got him in the end’._

_“So then I thought of what exactly is most important to the two of you, and I think in the end, it’s probably each other, and not your political opinions. I’ve seen you both, and how you’ve been acting, and it really amazes me that after all this time and all this pain, you both still feel that way. That’s truly incredible, especially considering the circumstances._

_“And then I realized that no matter what I do or how hard I try, I can’t cause you two any more pain than that which you’ve inflicted upon yourselves. I will never even come close to tearing you up physically the way you’ve already been torn emotionally. I will never, ever break you down the way you’re destroying yourselves._

_“So what am I going to do?”_ Chuno snickered, then sat down on the ground, his tail swaying playfully. _“I am going to sit here, defenseless, and I am going to let you kill me.”_

Nobody moved a muscle. Kevin doubted anyone could. It was just such a drastic decision that Chuno came to, and even if he explained, it hardly made any sense. What, so he couldn’t come up with any ideas, and just gave up? That couldn’t be it… There had to be more to it…

“There once were Pokémon that became very close to humans,” Chuno recited, in human, his tail still swaying. “There once were humans and Pokémon that ate together at the same table. It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two. I think I finally understand what that means.”

Kevin had no idea what was going on.

“Pokémon and humans are quite alike, in many ways. Most have similar thought processes, roughly equal intelligence, and neither creature has ever wanted to be the other. But then, a human and a Monferno fell in love, and they decided to have children. And, unknowingly, they created a tragic species that would never truly belong on either side.” Chuno nodded.

“One of them was your father, who wanted nothing more than to be human. Now, I’m going to take a wild guess and say the other one – your uncle or whatever – wanted to be a Pokémon. They grew up, and your father decided to make a machine that would make him what he wanted to be.

“But then I suppose he happened to meet your mother, whoever she may be, and fell in love with her. And he gave up his own ambitions for her, and then _they_ had kids, and they ended up making a species even _more_ tragic than the first.

“You brothers are _so_ close. If it weren’t for your father and Miss Kari, I think you’d be regular Pokémon. But you’re not. You grew up in a way that twisted you and turned you into these people that hold on to a single ideal, and in turn you ended up twisting _me_. Look what I’ve become. I used to be a little boy who couldn’t feel it when he bled, and now I’m a monster. I barely even deserve my name.”

Chuno laughed. “Have I not become a human in doing this? The very creature I never wanted to stoop to? I command a team, I don their clothes, I speak their language, to hell with naturalism; I’m just another Pokémon trainer. Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

There was silence. Kevin took a glance at his brother. Kyle’s hands were no longer burning, but dropped to his sides. He had a blank look on his face, and Kevin felt he probably shared his expression. Kari appeared to be disturbingly intrigued, like she wanted to say something but found it all just too bizarre to even begin to comprehend.

“I have a feeling,” whispered Chuno, still smiling, “that you can’t. One of you is barely an adult who has given up the chance in the past once before – and the other is just a boy. You don’t have the willpower to do it. Not without staining your consciences. Can the same be said for Miss Kari?”

It was now that Kari finally found her voice. “What?”

Chuno focused his gaze on her. “Do you have the will to commit justifiable homicide, right here, tonight? …No. You can’t do it either. Oh lord. I may never pay for what I’ve done.”

Cackling madly, Chuno sat there. Kevin, nor Kyle, nor Kari did a thing. Because for once, Chuno was right. None of them could do it. No matter how hard they tried.

Then, quite suddenly, in the space of a second, a small purple and white sphere fell down from the sky and hit Chuno on the head. Before the Raichu could comprehend what was happening, he was transformed into red light and sucked into the interior of the ball. The ball wiggled violently.

Kevin stared at it.

It wiggled again. Then a third time. And after that, there was a click, and then nothing.

Chuno was caught.

The Master Ball sat there, in his place, completely still. Slowly, Kevin looked up, trying to find the source of where it came from. He looked to the house, and his mouth opened at what he saw.

He expected, if anyone, his father. Because that would make the most sense. But his father was not watching them in Lana’s house’s upper story window. Instead, it was a pouting, little brat, no more than the age of nine. Chikoro the Chikorita had thrown the Master Ball.

And that was just too much to believe.


	42. Chapter 42

Kevin didn’t get much sleep that night.

The second after he’d realized it had been Chikoro who’d captured Chuno, he’d spent a good amount of time being stunned while Kyle berated the kid for meddling in his personal affairs. Chikoro, however, stood strong, a sense of confidence seemingly overtaking him, though not without weariness. It was like he’d grown up in the space of a few minutes.

When Kyle yelled at him, the Chikorita snapped right back, saying that nobody should have been so surprised, since he’d said that he’d finish off Chuno if they didn’t have the guts to. And he was right. It took a moment, but both brothers eventually remembered the kid telling them so back at Kyle’s headquarters. Of course, neither of them had actually taken him seriously.

Kari, who had not been present for the event, had a free pass and could be surprised, if she wanted, or so Chikoro claimed. She was pretty much speechless, but thanked him and settled down in the backyard to try and catch some sleep. Kevin would have done the same, had it not been for Lana’s ultimatum. He nudged her awake, told her in brief that Lana was basically kicking all of them out of her house, and begrudgingly led her, Chikoro, Kyle, and his sleepy dad out of the tiny town and into Route 201 to spend the night.

Despite the inadequate sleeping arrangements, nobody really complained. Kevin was used to sleeping in trees, after all, and Kyle was too. Kari had spent the past several days sleeping outside anyway, and Cory Holly was far too tired to protest. Chikoro muttered that he wasn’t going to sleep anyway.

So, as Kevin watched the stars in the sky and heard three of his four companions drift off to sleep, he was left wide awake on a tree branch with Chikoro right below. Since there was nothing better to do, he decided to talk to the kid.

“You okay?” he asked, hoping not to anger him in some way. He didn’t want another grass type reptile snapping at him, after all, though he figured Kyle had already exhausted most of the Chikorita’s argumentative desires.

Chikoro scoffed quietly. Kevin could hear some bug Pokémon in the distance chirping. “Why do you ask? Nobody laid a finger on me. I’m perfectly fine.”

Kevin sighed. The kid was always so defensive. “Come on. You’re totally shaken up. You’ve got to be.”

Though Kevin couldn’t see it, he had a feeling Chikoro was frowning. “Maybe a little. Something tells me Chuno would kill me if he ever got out of here,” he said.

“Wait,” Kevin frowned. “Out of here? Do you have the Master Ball with you?” Kevin was sure that it had been safely put back into his father’s briefcase before they’d left…

“How do you think I managed to get it in the first place? I cracked the code. I wanted to feel it again.”

Kevin, curious, climbed down from the tree and landed in front of Chikoro. Sure enough, the Chikorita was casually batting the Master Ball around, like he was a cat or something. “What? You cracked the code?”

Chikoro smirked. “It wasn’t that hard. It’s eight-six, eighty-eight.”

Kevin blinked. “…How?”

“Oh, please. It’s your dad’s briefcase, right? You and your brother mean a lot to him. You were born in 1986, and your brother two years after. Thus, the combination.” Chikoro grinned. “I’ll admit, it wasn’t my first guess, otherwise I would have caught him way earlier.”

“You’re really something, you know that?” Kevin muttered, watching him bat the ball. “So why did you want to play with it?”

Chikoro stopped rolling it around, picking it up with a vine. He held it up for Kevin to take. “Feel it.”

Kevin was incredulous, but he accepted the ball. It… wasn’t that exciting. He could feel there was something in it, trying in vain to escape, but otherwise it felt like a normal Pokéball.

“There’s so much power in there,” Chikoro said, watching it, mesmerized. “It’s really incredible, to hold something like that in such a tiny thing. Don’t you think?”

Not really, was what he wanted to say, but Kevin figured it was probably the human part of him talking. Training had felt so natural to him, but to Chikoro, something like this was probably alien enough to seem amazing. Kevin raised an eyebrow.

“I guess,” he said, handing it back. “Maybe it’s because you’re the one who caught him. I don’t know.”

Chikoro eyed the Master Ball thoughtfully. “Maybe.”

The two were silent for a moment, before Chikoro spoke again. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be human. I mean, to have six of these things near you all the time. I don’t think most Pokémon could do it.”

“Mm. You’re not like most Pokémon, Chicky,” Kevin said, smiling.

“Pfft. Somebody needs to tell that to _you_ ,” Chikoro said, snorting. He paused. “Then again, someone probably has.”

Kevin grinned. “How astute of you.”

“Yeah, well, it figures that she already said something. You really are a loony, you know?” The Chikorita shook his head. “And to think, I’m going to be spending the foreseeable future living with you. Man.”

Blinking, Kevin said, “What?”

“Well, you’re my trainer, aren’t you? Wherever you go, I go.”

“H-hey! That doesn’t mean you can just—”

“Where else am I going to go, Slickky? Like Mr. Shade would let me stay with _him_.”

“Can’t we talk about this?”

“We just did, didn’t we?”

“Ugh.” Kevin slumped down beside Chikoro, feeling deflated. “You’re an evil little half-pint.”

Chikoro smiled proudly. “Thank you.”

Kevin shifted his arms. “Mom’s going to love you.”

The Chikorita’s smile faltered. “Eh?”

“Yep. It’s been years since she had a little brat to coddle. I’m sure she’ll be very happy to meet you.” Kevin smirked. “And you know, that just might make you more bearable.”

Chikoro tapped the Master Ball softly. “…I see. Well, a place to stay and food to eat is all I need. Having a mom is an added bonus.”

The quiet sounds of the night were soothing. Kevin found it hard to believe he couldn’t sleep for hours before. If anything, it was like a lullaby, soft and gentle. He frowned.

“You know,” he started, half-whispering, “having an adventure was great and all, but I’m glad it’s over.”

Chikoro nodded in agreement. “Me too.”

And the two of them mutually agreed to end their conversation and catch some sleep. Hell, they sure needed it. It’d be morning soon, after all.

*

It was a sort of hectic morning when Kevin awoke, he noticed, since there was lots of animated chatter and walking around. As he surveyed the surroundings – a lightly-frosted clearing with a couple shallow piles of snow – he saw about fifteen apple cores and deduced, with a sigh, that everyone had already eaten. It wasn’t until Chikoro skipped by that he found out that wasn’t exactly the case.

“Those are all your brother’s, Slick,” said Chikoro, grinning. “Specially imported by the Pidgeot Express. You’d think he’d bring some for everybody, but I guess he’s kind of a jerk.”

Kevin grimaced, stretching his arms. “That’s Kyle for you.”

Chikoro sniggered. “Your dad wanted to talk to you, by the way,” he said.

“Mm? Oh, okay, thanks,” said Kevin. With a nod, Chikoro skipped off the other way, off to do who knows what before everyone got ready for departure.

Kevin let out a yawn and glanced around again, this time attempting to find his father. It wasn’t too hard; the clearing was spacious but Cory was the only human around. Kevin spotted him leaning on a tree, messing around with his phone or something. He cracked his neck to get rid of some of the early morning stiffness and walked over.

Cory was tapping away on a keypad of some sort, as if he was typing up a letter. It wasn’t really surprising, however. Kevin sighed internally. He’d missed a lot of technological advancements in ten years, hadn’t he? Being able to write on a phone was probably a given nowadays, however odd it seemed to him. Thank the heavens that as a Pokémon, adapting to new technology wasn’t too much of a priority.

He gave his dad a small wave. “Hey. Chicky said you wanted to talk?”

Cory looked up from his phone for a split second before resuming typing. “Oh, Kevin. Yes, I did want to talk. Just give me a second to finish this.”

It only took a few moments for Cory to write out the last few words and send his digital letter. Kevin watched him turn off the phone and pocket it with a little bit of wonder. “Who was that for?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Silph Co.,” answered his father, looking disgruntled. “I had to place an order for a new Master Ball. I’m just hoping they buy the whole thing I made up about an out of control Pokémon situation. I mean, those things are pretty expensive and our budget’s not that great. Hopefully I’ll at least get it half price.” Cory pushed up his glasses.

Seeing Kevin’s look of confusion, Cory uttered a small laugh. “That’s the wonderful world of having a job, Kevin. Constantly trying not to mess up and dealing with it as best you can when you inevitably do. Never guessed a nine-year-old would end up cracking my passcode, but hey, things happen.”

Kevin frowned. “It wasn’t his first guess, if that makes you feel better.”

The scientist laughed again. “Ah, maybe a little. But I didn’t want to talk to you about menial things like work.”

“Then… What?” Kevin asked.

Cory smiled. “Well, I wanted to know what you’re planning on doing next.”

Glancing to the side, Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. I want to go home, first and foremost, and after that I guess I’ll play it by ear. I’m done with all the adventuring.”

“So you’re not joining Kyle, then?” Cory inquired.

Kevin shook his head. “Nope.”

His father brushed away a few brown bangs. “Hm. He’ll be surprised to hear that. He’s been complaining all morning about having to let you in the Shades.”

Narrowing his eyes, Kevin shook his head once more. “Why is he so full of himself?”

“I think he’s a little more like his mother’s side of the family than he’d like to admit,” Cory said quietly. The man eyed the view in front of him thoughtfully. “It really makes me wonder…”

“Wonder what?” Kevin’s father had a habit of trailing off, it seemed.

Cory frowned. “Kyle swears that Rowan kept him prisoner in his lab. I just can’t wrap my head around it, though. Rowan is an old friend of mine. He of all people would know that Kyle and Kari would want to be let go.”

Kevin shrugged. “There are humans out there who can’t take the simplest of signs from Pokémon, Dad,” he said.

“Oh, that’s not the case at all, I’m sure,” said Cory. “Rowan’s got four brains; he’s not exactly stupid.”

Kevin did a double take. “E-excuse me?”

Cory blinked, realization dawning on him. “Oh, I didn’t say, did I? Rowan is a Metagross. He would have understood what they wanted, whether they spoke Pokémon or human or just glared at him.”

He stared. “…You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not. If it weren’t for Rowan, I’d say I’d probably still be developing the Cell Separation System, too. He’s the most intelligent person I know.” Cory frowned. “Which is why I can’t fathom why he’d think it’d be in Kyle’s best interest to keep him in his lab, but there it is.”

There was a pause. “Did you ask, or…?”

“Yeah, I did. Rowan told me that neither Kyle nor Kari would survive in the wild if he let them go free, but if Nick and I could then I’m sure those two would have been fine.”

Kevin frowned. “Well, Kyle was only twelve, right?”

Cory shrugged. “He’d lived in the wild his whole life before.”

“With Mom,” said Kevin, “in a tropical region with fruit growing year round. Never mind the fact that he only eats apples, which I haven’t seen growing on the mainland here as of yet. And Kari… She was raised in a lab, nice and safe her whole life. I think I can kind of see where Rowan was coming from.”

His father contemplated this. “I suppose that makes sense, logically. He is a robot, after all.”

“He was pretty nice to me, when I met him,” Kevin added.

Cory blinked. “Oh, you met him?” Kevin nodded. “Well, you might be right, then. Still, I wouldn’t go and tell those two about it, if I were you.”

Kevin scoffed. “I wasn’t really planning to. I think it’s best to let them live their lives, now that they’re out and can actually take care of themselves.”

He leaned against the tree, feeling the cool winter breeze blow by. It really wasn’t all that bad here, now that he was used to it. Maybe one day he’d come back, if only for a visit with Kyle or something. As for now, he was done with Sinnoh.

Cory seemed happy. “I’m glad. It was nice seeing you boys again after so long.”

“Yeah,” agreed Kevin, dropping his gaze to the grass.

“I think after I clear this whole work thing up, I’ll come around to see your mother again, too,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “That is, if she lets me live.”

Kevin grinned. “We’ll be looking forward to it.”

He chuckled. “So will I.”

*

Kyle pushed something into his hands. “Here. Breakfast.”

Kevin eyed the dozens of dried leaves that were now in his arms. “Leaves,” he said, his voice flat.

Kyle shrugged. “It’s the best we can do this time of year. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“Says the guy who flew in a million apples and left the evidence out for everyone to see,” muttered Kevin.

His brother merely waved a hand. “I figured you were used to eating the plant life around here, and you wouldn’t mind.”

Oh, yeah right. As if Kyle really thought that deeply about it. He had to be so insufferable all of a sudden, didn’t he? “I bet you saved an apple or two for Kari.”

Kyle grinned. “Ladies first, of course. Besides, I promised her I’d get her to taste them when we got out…” He frowned. “And I kept it.”

“I suppose you did, even if it is a few years too late,” said Kevin. He let the leaves drop to the ground. “You have a hell of a lot to make up to her, you know.”

Kyle scoffed, turning his head to the side. “I know. I _am_ going to fix everything, even if it takes forever,” he said, crossing his arms. “And nothing you can do is going to stop that, all right? No matter how hard you beg, you are not going to be part of the Shades with us and—”

“Good. I don’t even want to be,” Kevin said, catching his brother’s attention.

“What?” Kyle said. “You don’t?”

“No,” replied Kevin. “The Shades is your thing. I’d hate to join if it means I’d only ever play second fiddle,” he said confidently. He wouldn’t mention Chuno’s deal. He wasn’t sure if the Raichu would ever escape from his prison to hold him up to it, but Kevin figured he was better safe than sorry.

And… The Shades didn’t really seem all that appealing anymore. Kevin didn’t want to be involved in messy politics. Especially not if Kyle was at the forefront of them. He’d rather just go home.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. “Well…” he muttered. “I expected you to put up more of a fight.”

Kevin sighed. “For what? Superiority? Being the alpha male or something?”

“For Kari,” Kyle said. His mouth twisted into a smirk. “But hey, that’s fine by me. I like winning, especially against you.” Kyle chuckled, and then brushed past him, patting him on the shoulder.

“I guess I’ll see you later, then. I’ve got arrangements to make, since Kari’s going to be living with me and all. Bye!” And with a stupor that was incredibly unlike him, Kyle waved and sauntered off.

…What a jerk.

Groaning, Kevin put his hand on his head. Kari was going to live with his brother? Why in the world would she ever accept something like that? Unless she offered it herself, but she would never do that. Not after…

Guess there was one last person to talk to before heading home.

Oh lord. Kevin took a deep breath and began to look around for Kari. She was considerably harder to spot, what with his terrible vision and her knack for blending in with other foliage, but soon he found a tree that was a tad too green for the time of year attached to a turtle who was a tad too important not to see before he left. He sighed and headed over to her.

Kari was staring down the frozen grass with an intense glare, and Kevin found it almost too intimidating to start a conversation. He vaguely remembered her glares when they first met, far too futile to scare his immature little ass. Times sure had changed.

She looked up when she noticed him, regarding him thoughtfully. “I was wondering when you’d wake up,” she said.

In all honesty, at that moment he wanted to pretend that they still needed another badge and he needed her help to come up with a good strategy. “Fell asleep really late. I was up talking to Chicky.”

“Oh?” Her voice still sounded like sandpaper, just like it had at the beginning. “What about?”

“You know,” he said, “what we’re going to do, where we’re going to go. That sort of stuff.” He had a feeling neither of them really cared about what they were talking about.

She tilted her head slightly. Kevin identified the movement as a tiny hint of confusion. “And did you decide anything?”

He frowned, finally sitting down beside her. He curled his tail in front of him, staring at it. “I’m going back home. Back to do nothing and be nobody of importance. Chicky’s coming with me.”

Kari turned her gaze to his tail, too. “So you decided not to come with Kyle and I?”

A heavy sigh. He flicked his eyes at hers. “I made a deal.”

She paused. “…With Chuno? You don’t have to keep any promises to him, anymore—”

“I know, I know. I don’t have to. But…” Kevin winced. “I don’t know. I guess I _feel_ like I have to? And… I actually don’t really want to be part of the Shades. Not now.”

She seemed displeased with him. He sighed, bringing his hand to his face.

“Why are you going with him, anyway? It seems like the last thing you’d want to do,” he muttered quietly. His tail flickered.

Kari looked away. “He… He asked me to marry him.”

Kevin’s eyes snapped wide open as he jerked his head up. “He _what_?!”

The Torterra stared at the ground, uneasiness overtaking her. “I-I know. It caught me off guard. He took my speechlessness as a ‘maybe’.”

He squinted at her. “… _And_?”

“And then he went on about how he’d make everything up to me and I could be a Shade and we’d be perfect forever. And I was about to tell him he was kidding himself and that could never happen. But the way he was smiling… He looked just the way he used to. And for a second, it seemed like the old him was really there. And I figured… I figured it was only fair to let him have one last chance. The old him.”

Kevin was more than incredulous. “After everything he did to you, you’re going to let him have another chance.”

“Well, I was under the impression I’d have you there with me, and that if he did end up being a huge idiot again, I’d still be okay,” she said.

Kevin blinked. “…Oh.”

“I want to be part of the Shades, too. It was my idea, after all, and I think Kyle could use a few ideas that don’t come from a children’s story book,” said Kari, somewhat bitterly. “But that doesn’t mean I want to stop being with you. These last few months, I’ve never been happier. Despite all the crying I may have done.”

His expression slowly turned back into a frown as he creased his eyebrows. “You cried a hell of a lot.”

She laughed. “Mm. But I smiled too, didn’t I? I don’t do that very much.”

He found himself leaning against her shell. He didn’t remember when he’d started doing that, but judging by the smile on her face, he didn’t think she minded all that much.

“Kyle told me you were in love with me this morning,” she said, her smile turning into a smirk.

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Goddamn it.”

Kari giggled. “I can’t believe it took him that long to figure it out.”

Grimacing, Kevin glanced at her. “Knowing you, you probably knew before I did.”

“Since Iron Island,” she said, beaming at the sky. “You were acting far too nice far too quickly.”

Kevin opened his mouth. That… That was a little early. “Um…”

“Oh, _dear_. When did you figure it out?” She sighed in exasperation.

“Like, two days ago,” he said.

Kari was surprised. “Two days ago? But…” She blinked. “At the league… You said…”

Kevin grinned sheepishly. “Uh… Said what?”

She shook her head and stomped her right foot roughly into the ground. “You are a _moron_. Go home, all right? And don’t come and see me until you grow up and get some brain cells, okay?”

He laughed. “’Kay. I’ll go,” He stood up. “When’s your birthday?”

“Er… July twenty-sixth, I think,” Kari said. “It may be off by a few days, being born where I was and all, but I think that’s what they wrote down…”

Kevin gave her a salute. “Gotcha. I’ll come see you on July twenty-sixth. You okay with that?”

She stared at him for a split second before smiling back. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

He smirked before turning, off to collect Chikoro so he could hitch a ride on a boat at the port in Sandgem Town back home. In a few short hours, he’d be back in Petalburg Woods, sitting in his favourite tree, most likely hearing his mother scold him for being away so long, then revert to gushing over how happy she was to have him home.

Yep. Things would go back to normal, just the way they used to be. Nothing would be changed at all. Well, almost nothing.

If one thing was for certain, Kevin was looking at the world with brand new eyes.

And that was probably all he’d ever wanted.


End file.
